Takeaways: Today Matters by John Maxwell

Today Matters: 12 Daily Practices to Guarantee Tomorrow's Success  

by Maxwell, John C.

   The book contains a lot of valuable ideas to learn. I think, every person who wants to improve his life, serious about his time, should read this book once. I highly recommend reading it.

   After reading this book, I listed some of my lessons and thoughts below.

1. Make your day a success. Success is not luck, nor is it an opportunity. It is not about a connection, recognition, event or special occasion. It is about now and your attitude toward things. If you are alive, healthy and have food to survive, it is enough for you to be successful. We can create our success by focusing on our day. Never underestimate your day, it is what you have now, work on it, make it a masterpiece and a place of preparation for tomorrow's success. Do not live with yesterday, it is already gone. For tomorrow, never put too much trust in it, nothing or no one has a guarantee to be there.  
2. Make decisions today. Set goals, identify your priorities, commit the accomplishments today, practice them and build discipline in your every day so that you may enjoy their fruits tomorrow.
3. Attitude makes a lot of sense. What is your attitude towards others? Do you see the glass a half-empty or a half-full? Improve your attitude today by looking at the people and things around you positively, expressing gratitude for everything, socializing with positive people, and appreciating and thanking people today. Remember, your attitude is a crucial factor in your success, achievement, and happiness. It determines other's stance toward you. Take responsibility for your attitude, and it's up to you to change it, make it a little better than yesterday. 
4. Stay focused on your priorities. We can't control time, but we can control our focus on the tasks at hand. Check yourself by asking questions like "What is my main activity?", "What am I required to do?", "What is the main contributor in my life?", "What do I have to do to become ... ?".  Then write plans and do to list according to your answers for your every single day. Apply the Pareto principle (80/20 rule) into your activities and act according to your priorities. 
5. Learn to think. Thinking creates ideas, identifies priorities, and opens up opportunities. Everything starts with the ideas, and ideas can be generated by thinking. So allocate time, find the place to think in your every single day.
6. Commitment empowers. Commit to being better than yesterday, work harder to achieve your goals, read more to improve your life, and try to help others often. Once you are committed to developing yourself, the process starts, and it brings better discipline, motivation, opportunities, and persistence in your work toward your goals.
7. Maintain your health, wealth, and relationship. To be a happy, healthy, and financially independent, we need to take special care and consistent discipline in our health, wealth, and relationship with people. So maintain them carefully every day. 

And you will find more interesting ideas to learn in this book. I highly recommend this book.