It’s always now.
Of course, there’s a paradox. There usually is when things are important. Now and later seem as though they’re in a constant battle.
The successful project organizer, the creator of change, always works for later, for the change that happens after the work is done.
Strategically, this is the only way to focus our efforts. We invest in making a contribution, in moving people forward.
But emotionally, there’s only now.
Our experience of this moment, appended to the experience of the previous one and all the ones before that.
A series of experiences, one after another, that’s what we get. That’s all there is. As Allen Saunders wrote, “Life is what happens when you’re making other plans.”
We’ve created a culture where the two contradict and reward each other. Now is never, we cannot make change if we require instant gratification. And it’s always now, because there’s no point to our work if we can’t live in each moment, accepting it for what it brings.
The art is in dancing between the two. In building a later that is worthy of the series of nows that we each get to experience.
Image courtesy of Unsplash.
Originally published at medium.com