Today is a Gift. Rather than Beating Yourself Up Over Yesterday, Use it to Your Advantage.

Last week I presented to roughly 50 people. While I received encouraging feedback on my presentation, there was one piece of feedback that sent me in a tailspin. Early on in my presentation, I mistakenly gave an erroneous fact. I told the people that the television was invented 30 years ago. Do you know what was invented 30 years ago? The cell phone.

This dumb mistake was costly to a number of my TERMS, specifically my time, energy and mental stability. (The R stands for resources for those of you who are not familiar with the acronym). I fretted about how the organizer recorded the presentation and was going to put it on YouTube and send the link to all of the members.

I lost sleep questioning "Why? Why did I say that?" I made judgments of myself and worried about how others perceived me. I told myself "That mistake is proof that I don't have what it takes to be a successful trainer, speaker, or even coach!" And, more disappointing is that I allowed all this worrying and fret to carry into the next day.

It was an awkward moment the next morning, when my client noticed that I seemed "off" or distracted. It was humbling as I shared with him what was on my mind and he served me the medicine I have been delivering to many others. "Let it go." He reminded me that I would have been much better off, productive and present in my interactions with others if I had simply acknowledged the mistake. Learned from it. And moved on!

Here's my Empowered Moment for you as a result of this lesson.

            Yesterday is behind you. Learn from it.

            The future lies ahead of you. Be prepared for it.

            The present is right here, right now.

You have been given a gift today to do with what you choose. Beating yourself up over a mistake or reminding yourself of all your shortcoming is not worthy of this precious time. Remind yourself that you have amazing things to do, incredible people to connect with and move forward.

Remember every second is a gift and every second matters. It is up to you to use them to your advantage.