There’s a phrase we’ve all heard at some point: live like today is your last day. It sounds motivating on the surface, but when you really sit with it, it falls apart. If today were truly your last day, most of us wouldn’t be doing much of anything productive. We’d be in a panic, calling people we’ve lost touch with, abandoning every responsibility, and probably eating a ridiculous amount of dessert. That’s not living, that’s reacting.
This week has been a reminder of a different kind of philosophy. Not everything-on-fire urgency of “last day” thinking, but something more grounded and more powerful: do what you can today, because you don’t know what tomorrow holds.
The Procrastination Trap
Let’s be honest, procrastination is one of the easiest habits to fall into, and one of the hardest to shake. There’s always a reason to wait. You’re tired. You’re not in the mood. The task will still be there tomorrow. And sometimes, that’s true. But sometimes, tomorrow looks nothing like you expected.
You might wake up with the flu. A family emergency might call you away. Life has a way of rearranging your carefully laid plans without asking for permission. The small things you kept pushing, the email you meant to send, the conversation you kept putting off, the trip you said you’d book “soon”, they pile up quietly until they become regrets.
This isn’t about catastrophizing. It’s about a simple truth: the most certain time you have is now.
A Better Framework: The Five-Year Window
Instead of the anxiety-inducing “last day” mindset, try this: imagine you have five more years, and picture everything you want to have done, seen, and felt within that window.
Five years is long enough to be realistic. It’s not a countdown to disaster; it’s a planning horizon that forces clarity. When you think in five-year terms, the travel you keep postponing stops being a vague “someday” dream and starts being a decision. The time you want to spend with family and friends becomes a priority you can actually schedule. The work you keep pushing gets assessed honestly. Is it worth your time, or has it been weighing on you for reasons you’ve been avoiding?
That timeline helps you see life in a much sharper sense. The five-year lens also turns abstract desires into real questions you have to answer.
If you’ve been thinking about quitting your job, would you still be there in five years, or would you have finally made the move? If you want to go skydiving, what exactly are you waiting for? If there’s something you’ve wanted to say to someone, what are the chances the moment will be more convenient later?
These aren’t questions designed to create pressure. They’re questions designed to create honesty.
What I’m Reading
Raising Brows - Anastasia Soare (Finished)
The story of how Anastasia Soare arrived in the U.S. without speaking English and built a billion-dollar global beauty empire by mastering a single, overlooked detail. This is a book of inspiration.
Mattering- Jennifer Breheny Wallace (Currently Reading)
Mattering examines how the need to feel significant shapes our ambition, relationships, and identity, and why true confidence comes from knowing we matter beyond achievement.
What Else Dropped This Week
Off Script
Why Deepa Walked Away From Corporate to Build Her Own Brands
Under the Hood
The Sephora Paradox: One Brand Sold for Millions. The Other Just Shut Down. Both Were in 600 Stores.
Skin Deep
The Beginner’s Guide to Moisturizing: Everything You Need to Know to Start Your Skincare Journey
On My Reading Desk
They were about to shut down their business. Then a raw TikTok changed everything.
Reese Witherspoon Has Some Surprising Career Advice: Stop Chasing Your Dreams — And Do This Instead
Science Says Rich People Aren’t Inherently Smarter. Mark Cuban Agrees
Note to My Future Self
Enjoy what you can today. Do the things you’re capable of doing now. Say the things you mean to say. Take the steps you’ve been circling.
Not because the world is ending. Not because you should live in a state of urgency or fear. But because the present is the only moment where action is actually possible. The future is where we store our intentions. Today is where we act on them.
Be bold. Be real. Be Anomalous.
— Sai Menon