Carpe Diem!

Ever since I saw the movie “Dead Poets Society”, the latin phrase “carpé diem” (‘seize the day’) has stayed in my subconscious.  It is a call to make the most of our lives and to seize opportunities.   Paul, the great Christian leader, also encouraged his followers in Ephesus (Ephesians 5:16) to “make the most of every moment”.  

It sounds good, but how do we do this?  

In my article ‘Purpose, Priorities and Practices” I talk about the importance of having Annual, Quarterly, Weekly and Daily practices, and I mention that it is in the daily practices where we actually make progress or get things accomplished. We can't repeat what we did yesterday and we can’t do tomorrow's work for it,  it is only ‘today’ that gives us an opportunity to seize! 

To help me make the most of each day I have a number of rituals that get me through the day.  Apart from regular times for sleep, eating, exercising, taking care of our personal needs and time with family, I have two important rituals to help me and I have two separate journals, one for each ritual.  

Ritual #1 for Journal #1.  

This is my most important daily ritual. 
Each morning as soon as I rise, I make a tea or coffee, then spend 30 minutes reflecting, reading something from the Bible, making a few notes, and taking time to reflect, pray, review my purpose and priorities, and ask God to guide and help me today.  
Then each evening, last thing before bed, I take the same journal and jot down how the day went, what I did, how I am feeling, and what I’m concerned or worried about.  Then I pray and close the day off.  

I have done this consistently for about 25 years, and I believe it is one of the things that has helped me stay sane (well, mostly) and stay focussed on the important things in my life.  As a Christian leader, I believe it also helps me stay focussed on the purpose God has for my life.  I do this 7 days a week, whether I rise early or go to bed late, it is just the way I start and end the day.  Yes, I may be a freak. But it has helped me be a sane freak (mostly)!

Ritual #2 for Journal #2. 

The second ritual is more ‘work focussed”.  When I get to work, or sit down to begin work for the day, I pull out my Journal #2, my “Daily Planner” (I also make another coffee!).

Because of my weekly review times, when I sit down to work each day I can see my top priorities for the week, daily tasks to work on, and my list of appointments.  At the beginning of the day I review what I hope to accomplish, make any adjustments, and then get started.  This really helps my mind to get focussed and not distracted by the more random list of things that come to my mind!  Then at the end of my work day, I review my planner, transfer any tasks not done to a future time and pay attention to any notes from the day.  I use this planner alongside my digital tools, but I often find the digital tools very distracting and my ritual with this planner helps me to focus, and seize the day! 

These two rituals and journals are the things that help me to “seize each day”, and if I don't have a great day, they help me to learn from it and make adjustments.  

If I had to distill it down even further, I would say that the single most important daily ritual, for sure, is (not coffee!) … its the early morning 30 minutes with God of reflection, reading and prayer.  It may seem like a big commitment at first, but I started small when someone challenged me as a university student to do it for 10 minutes a day or 30 days.   I made it, and it changed my life.  Now, I just find that I need at least 30 minutes each day.  

If you don't already have a plan to do this, but would like to, there are some great resources out there to get started!  First, you will need a pen, a Bible and a blank daily journal.  Then all you need is a plan.  I like to use guided plans that have some suggested short readings that follow a pattern and cover a variety of topics.  

I have written a “7 Day Devotional” on the topic of “Passion, Vision, Action”.   I also uploaded this to the online Bible app YouVersion where over 1000 people have now completed this set of readings. You could be the next :)

YouVersion also has hundreds more plans to keep you going for the rest of your life!

So I wonder, what are your most important daily practices or rituals? 

Do you have some things that help you seize the day?

Perhaps you can try that 30 Day Challenge? 

Go on, just do it! 

Carpé Deim!