Several years ago, a very good friend, Paul Myers, shared a statement I have never forgotten: “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

For a number of years I used to take a familiar saying and turn it around to prove a point. I did this so long, I almost forgot the original thought and meaning. I used to say, “Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow.”

Sadly, this is how we often approach life generally, and leadership particularly. We become masters at procrastinating. We tend to put something off until tomorrow that we should do today.

Why?

We could probably list a number of answers. However, what we need is an understanding of the opposite; “why put off until tomorrow what can be done today.”

There is no better time than now when it comes to…

Leading others to Christ,

Telling someone you love them,

Helping someone mature spiritually,

Strengthening the weak, and

Learning how to improve as leaders.

We must fight the desire to procrastinate and use the present to achieve greatness.