By: D. A. Slinkard
Today is the day. This simple statement needs to be a constant reminder for you, for me, for everyone, as we start each day. When it comes to making the necessary changes in our lives, we need to live by this mantra. Today is the day I will stop putting off what I know I have needed to do, and I am just going to go do it. Today is the day. This sentence repeated over enough with the right amount of emphasis can change anyone’s life…and I do mean anyone.
When I mention emphasis, I am talking about the words we are going to emphasize when we repeat this statement. We begin with the first word “today,” and remember that ALL CAPS signifies a form of yelling. And, yes, if I am something written in ALL CAPS, I am wanting you to be a little louder. Read the sentence again placing the proper emphasis where it is meant to be. TODAY is the day! Notice I added the exclamation point? That emphasis on the first word brought a little more excitement than just reading the sentence as someone with no purpose. Say the sentence again and again until you believe that TODAY is the day you stop making excuses.
I want to turn our focus to the second word “is.” Read the sentence with the proper emphasis. Today IS the day! The word “is” that we are emphasizing becomes our doing word. Do not get me wrong, it was a verb before but now with the proper conviction behind the sentence, we now can actually do something with today. Repeat the sentence again and again until you believe that today IS the day you stop making excuses.
Time to move to the third word of the sentence which is “the.” Go ahead and reread the sentence but this time we are going to move the proper emphasis to this word. Today is THE day! When the emphasis goes to “the,” this is signaling in our brain the specifics of what today is. Too often when we make the statement “Today is the day” without using any emphasis, we take a passive approach to this meaning that today is some day in the future but not actually today. Repeat the sentence again with the proper emphasis following our sentence structure. “Today is THE day!” Go ahead and keep saying this sentence to yourself until you believe that today is THE day you stop making excuses.
We come to the last word in the sentence, and we see the word is “day.” Our emphasis gets moved along to the very end so repeat after me. Today is the DAY! Can you feel yourself starting to get fired up? Seriously? My fingers are starting to move faster and faster across the keyboard with every stroke as I write this article because I am motivating myself that today is the DAY! Say the sentence again and again as if you mean it and until you believe that today is the DAY!
So here we are, and you are thinking to yourself that that is all the words. The emphasis has been placed on each word. I feel different. I feel a little more motivated, but you might be thinking to yourself that you are not quite sure how long your motivation will last. Fair enough. Will you entertain me one more time as we go ahead and place our emphasis one more time throughout the sentence?
This time instead of emphasizing just one word, we are going to emphasize every word. Remember what ALL CAPS means, so say this sentence like you mean it. “TODAY IS THE DAY!!!!” Did you notice the additional exclamation points? The reason being is because if you did the exercise correctly then giving only one exclamation point would have been a fallacy. Repeat this sentence until you can hear the exclamation points oozing off your sentence. Put your emotions into it. Put your all-in-all into it when you say this sentence. Say it with some conviction. Say it with some pride. Say it with me now, “TODAY IS THE DAY!!!!”
In mere minutes you have been able to make a change in your thought process that is so vitally important to do every morning. You must decide what your day is going to be, and this article has given you the ingredients for changing your life where TODAY IS THE DAY you stop making excuses and change your life.
By: D. A. Slinkard
D.A. Slinkard would love your feedback. You can contact him at da.slinkard@gmail.com
April 19, 2024
