We know tomorrow isn’t “promised.” We don’t understand until someone we know doesn’t get another one. Unfortunately, the understanding isn’t permanent. It usually lasts for a month or two after the loss. We are temporarily enlightened. What is the trick or secret to remembering this on a day-to-day basis? We don’t want to require the death of a loved one to succeed at this feat. What can we do? What habits can we create? Is there any hope for those of us who struggle with living each day to the fullest? We should stop looking at the work in remembering to do it and focusing on the benefits of doing it.

Let’s talk about what happens after the loss of a loved one. We fill ourselves with regret. We tell ourselves we will not allow another day to pass without telling people we love them. We will work toward our dreams and not waste another day. This mindset is awesome, but it’s from experiencing a loss. The problem? Our great outlook is just how we cope with our pain. It helps with the regret. It helps with missing the person you can no longer tell you miss them. We then start to feel better. We come to terms with the person being gone. This healing leads to the coping mindset we developed fading. As it fades, we go back to wasting days, telling ourselves our loved ones are just a phone call away, but never picking up the phone. We are no longer influenced by mortality. The thought that life can end at any time goes away. It is easier this way. Remembering that death can occur at any time can cripple most of our ability to function. This spot is where the “how” kicks in as the savior in this situation. Humans function better on a reward system.

The reward system is what will keep us from requiring a tragedy. We will remind ourselves of the positives that come with living as we should. The way to trick or make us focus on getting the most out of our day is to tell ourselves what we get for doing it. When we go on a diet, we know the benefit is losing weight and being healthier. That is the focus. We don’t focus on the difficulty of changing what we eat, the cravings we will get during the diet, or seeing the scale move downward slower than we would like. The time we choose to focus on the work is the beginning of the end of our diet. This is how everything we decide to do accomplish will function including choosing to live with the mindset of using each day you get as a gift. An opportunity to tell the ones you love, you love them. The ability to right the wrongs of yesterday. The chance to be a better version of yourself.

In closing, we all know how precious life is, but even with reminders, we tend to allow ourselves to ignore that fact. The next time you find yourself not valuing a day as much as you should, write down what you could have accomplished that day. Follow that up with what you get out of accomplishing the things on that list. The next day, you want to attempt to do all things on that list. Not only will you get most, if not all of the list completed, but you’ll also show yourself the power of incentives. All of a sudden, today matters more.

Food for thought. You do the dishes!