Today begins yesterday

Time of India

25-04-2025

'If you want to feed a person for a day give him a fish, if you wish to feed him for a lifetime, teach him how to fish.' Dr Ajit Varwandkar is a Career Psychologist and a Thought process Transformation Expert by profession. He is working on enhancing employability through career guidance and training. Just capacity development is not his motto; enabling youth is the intent. He started his career as a mechanical engineer and eventually went into clinical psychology, management and doctoral research. He is an avid trainer of Thought Engineering for corporate and educational institutes. He is a music lover and plays the Indian classical percussion instrument – Tabla. He is the author of the book Think Success and Be Successful. He loves to write inspirational blogs on self-improvement and career development issues. He believes in living life at zero complaint level and is always keen to focus on solutions than on excuses. LESS ... MORE
You must read this blog once again before you sleep tonight.
Well, each of us gets the same 24 hours in a day. Yet, some people seem to achieve more, grow faster, and live more purposefully than others. What's their secret? It's not magic or luck—it's how they use their time, especially the time before bed.
Success isn't something you stumble upon. It's a gradual build—step by step, habit by habit. One of the biggest differences between people who consistently succeed and those who feel stuck is simple: intention. Most successful people are not just driven during the day—they prepare for tomorrow the night before.
Ask yourself—how do you spend your evenings? Many of us fall into two categories. The first are people who spend hours mindlessly scrolling through their smartphones. Ironically, their phones are smart, but they are not! These people wish for success but do not take the steps needed to achieve it. They hope, dream, and pray—but take no consistent action.
The people who truly move forward in life are the ones who plan, prepare, and pursue. They don't wait for the perfect opportunity. They create it. And one of their most powerful habits is something most of us often overlook: planning the next day before going to bed.
Let me share a simple truth—your day does not start in the morning. It starts the night before. What you do before sleeping sets the tone for how you perform tomorrow. While most people wake up and react, checking their phones, rushing into their day without a clue, successful individuals take a proactive approach. A day well spent is a day well planned. The difference between 'waking up with purpose' and 'getting out of bed in panic' lies in what you did the previous night. What you did before closing your eyes on the bed yesterday makes all the difference. Did you think about your next day goals? Did you set your priorities? Or did you straight away crash into bed, hoping tomorrow would somehow figure itself out?
Here's a small habit that can change your life: Spend 10 minutes every evening planning your next day. Do not jump into 'relax mode' when you get back home. Instead, take a few minutes to pause, reflect, and recalibrate. Write down your top priorities for tomorrow. Do not keep them in your head—put them on paper. A written plan has a far greater chance of being executed.
Keep a 'Tomorrow Diary.' List down the top 3 tasks you want to accomplish. Visualize how you will handle them. This one ritual aligns your actions with your intentions. You won't just drift through your day—you'll drive it.
If you want to be extraordinary, you must be willing to do what the ordinary won't. That often means adding small disciplines to your daily life. This isn't about working harder—it's about working smarter, with clarity and direction. Consistency is key. Successful people don't plan just one night and forget the next. They make it a daily ritual. Before they sleep, they reflect, write, and visualize their tomorrow. This practice sharpens their focus and keeps them grounded, no matter how busy life gets.
There is an interesting story about General Laddu Pinto, a military strategist known for his leadership during wartime. At the end of each day, he would meet with his lieutenants, review battlefield movements, and discuss political developments. Then, he'd spend 20 minutes alone in his bathtub, thinking, reflecting, and visualizing the next day's action. When asked why, he said, 'I always entered the battlefield a day earlier—mentally. The physical fight happened in daylight, but the real battle was won in my mind in the tranquillity of the night before.'
Success is not loud or flashy. Often, it's born in the stillness of the night. While the world sleeps, winners prepare. While others scroll, winners script their next move.
The saying goes, 'The morning shows the day.' But I believe the morning only reveals how you ended the day before. Each sunrise gives you two choices—wake up with a plan, or be pulled in random directions like a soldier with no strategy in the battlefield.
So tonight, before you shut down for the day, ask yourself: Did I prepare for tomorrow? Because the future doesn't begin when the sun rises. It begins the moment you decide to take charge of your time.
Plan with a great purpose, sleep with clarity, and wake up ready to conquer.
Read this blog once again tonight.
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Views expressed above are the author's own.