Ah, fill the Cup:---what boots it to repeat. How Time is slipping underneath our Feet: Unborn TO-MORROW, and dead YESTERDAY, Why fret about them if TO-DAY be sweet! Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

Marcus Aurelius said, "Remember that man's life lies all within this present, as 'twere but a hair's breadth of time; as for the rest, the past is gone, the future yet unseen." Yet, even if today is sweet and life lies within this present, where does the future come from?

Peter F. Drucker, the great management guru of the 20th century, wrote, "The future is not going to be made tomorrow; it is being made today, and largely by the decisions and actions taken with respect to the tasks of today." He also made the famous statement, "The best way to predict the future is to create it."

Actions have consequences. Today's actions to deal with today's issues could have side effects that manifest tomorrow, hence the saying, "Every solution breeds new problems." Likewise, today's problems stem from yesterday's actions. Dealing with problems is a past-oriented activity. Creating the future requires present and future orientation. However, if you are only solving problems, you are walking into the future backwards! If you remain in this mode, you cannot create the future. How do you escape from this predicament? The escape route is to consider all significant consequences of your actions and either take steps to avoid or recover from them. Spend less time solving problems and more time in ensuring that you will not have any problems from your actions today.

Let me put this in perspective: I recently worked with a small business owner who spent a large part of his time solving problems. With a little analysis, I showed this person that the problems were largely his own creations, and with each problem he solved in a hurry, two more were created. Hercules killed the many-headed Hydra by cauterizing each head that he cut off. Likewise, by considering the consequences - both short and long term - of the actions taken to solve problems, my client reduced the time he spent solving problems. True, this did take a little more time than before, but with this approach, the problems stayed solved.

In the classic musical The Music Man, Prof. Harold Hill says, "You pile up enough tomorrows and you will find that you have collected nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays!" Today plants the seed for tomorrow. And tomorrow you will find that today is the tomorrow that you were worried about yesterday! Carpe diem: Seize the day, and by your actions today, seize tomorrow!