Starting Over

All of Life’s Great Lessons are simple and obvious.  People miss them because they look for more complex, sophisticated answers.  At least that way they have an excuse to stay where they are, pitying themselves.

This Lesson has saved people’s lives over and over.  It’s made decent, productive members of society out of what were once vagabonds and outcasts.  It’s made good husbands and wives out of what were once abusive, hateful bullies.  It has ended depression and sloth, and has built up again those who have given up.  It changed lives from what people don’t want to be into what they do want to be.

The lesson is this…  and I warn you, it’s simple…
You can start over today.

Nothing you did yesterday matters; only what you do now matters.  It doesn’t matter if you were a liar and everybody knows it; you can quit being a liar today.  It doesn’t matter if you have always been lazy, and everybody tells you about it; you can quit being lazy today.  It doesn’t matter if you had been a sarcastic bully; you can begin being a supportive friend today. 

It doesn’t matter if you were alcoholic yesterday; today you can take that step and get help.  It doesn’t matter if you have been depressed for years; today you can take a step away from that and get the help you need.

You can start over today.  You can begin making a difference now.  You can start writing your book, now.  You can begin your new business, now.  You can be the person you want to be, starting now.

Ray Kroc was fifty-two years old when he got the idea of making McDonald’s into a national franchise.  At that time he was a salesman for ice cream machines; when he died, he had over five hundred million dollars.  Harland Sanders was a 65-year-old broke, retired cook when he got the idea of selling his Kentucky Fried Chicken.  When he died, he was a millionaire. It doesn’t matter what you did; it only matters what you do now.

You may have heard some people say, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.”  The first time I heard that, even then I thought it was trite.  But it’s true.  Make the rest of your life count for something you really want.  You can begin today.  You can do what you should do –  what you want to do – and yesterday doesn’t count.