While on the cross-trainer this morning, I was flipping channels and landed on a sports interview program. The interviewee was the latest ubiquitous Eastern European teen tennis star/fashion model.
Since most top shelf tennis players/fashion models join the pro tour at twelve, they unfortunately and obviously don’t get a lot of education.
In response to a simple question about being a rich and famous tennis star/model, she spit out one of those pithy but profoundly stupid statements that they must teach at celebrity school, since 78% of all celebrities parrot it.
I just couldn’t resist commenting on it. In fact, it inspired a new category of reluctant leader posts that I am calling “Stupid Statements.”
Here’s the inspirational quote:
“I just live every day as if it were my last.”
What the heck does that mean?
What if you really lived every day as if it were your last?
– You probably wouldn’t spend two hours doing hellish conditioning drills.
– You definitely wouldn’t spend two hours working on your kick serve preparing for next week’s tournament.
– You wouldn’t go to class or study for tomorrow’s exam.
– Your diet would be over.
– You wouldn’t worry about the price tag or your credit limit. (Probably don’t do that anyway.)
I suggest all leaders do the opposite of living every day as if it were your last, and do life and leadership as a long-term project.
Live and lead as if this is NOT your last day.
– Get the best education and training you can, so you can have a better future.
– Take your time and do things right, rather than speeding through life.
– Earn, save, and invest so that the next generation will have an inheritance.
– Invest in long-term relationships because this is probably not your last day.
– Commit to the painfully slow process of training home-grown leaders.
When we learn to think long-term, we will see that time is not the enemy. It is actually our ally.