Nobody got where they are today by living for tomorrow.

“Nobody got where they are today by living for tomorrow.” — thus spoke Tom Wilson, a humorist and artist who, beneath the lightness of his words, revealed a truth carved deep in the stone of human striving. His saying may sound simple, yet within it lies the pulse of ancient wisdom: that life unfolds only in the present, and that all greatness — all progress, all transformation — is born not from waiting, but from action in the now. For tomorrow is a dream that never arrives; it is always a day away, a horizon that retreats as we chase it. Only those who dare to live fully in the moment, who plant their hands firmly into the soil of the present, rise to shape their destiny.

From the dawn of time, the wise have known that the present is the field of power. The past is memory, the future imagination — but the present is reality, pulsing with life and choice. Yet how many squander their strength dreaming of “someday”? “Someday” I will begin my art, my journey, my change, my truth. But someday is the lie that chains the soul. It is the sweet poison of procrastination — and as Tom Wilson warns, none who lived for tomorrow ever built today. The great architects of destiny, from conquerors to poets, did not wait for perfect hours or auspicious signs. They seized the imperfect moment, and through their will, made it sacred.

Consider Leonardo da Vinci, the restless genius of the Renaissance. His days were filled not with waiting, but with endless curiosity. He did not say, “Tomorrow I will learn the flight of birds” — he dissected wings that day. He did not promise, “Tomorrow I will paint the face of the divine” — he began his strokes with trembling hands that very hour. In his notebooks he wrote, “I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.” He lived the truth that growth happens in motion, and thus his works still breathe centuries after his death.

So too did the warriors of history understand this. The great Samurai knew that hesitation was defeat. In battle and in life alike, they trained their minds to dwell fully in the moment, neither fearing tomorrow nor regretting yesterday. They called it zanshin — the perfect state of awareness. To them, every breath could be the last, and therefore each breath was infinite. To live entirely in the present was to touch eternity itself. And so they moved with calm precision and unbreakable spirit, embodying the truth that to act now is to live forever.

But this teaching is not only for heroes and philosophers. It belongs to every soul that dreams. For how often do we tell ourselves that life will begin after — after the job, after the success, after the fear fades away? Yet life is never later. Life is this — the heartbeat, the inhale, the step before the mountain. The man who postpones joy for some imagined future never finds it, for joy lives only in the moment it is felt. The woman who waits for perfect courage before beginning her work will never begin, for courage grows only in the act itself.

When Tom Wilson said that nobody got where they are today by living for tomorrow, he meant that every victory is born of presence. Those who achieve greatness are not fortune’s favorites — they are those who showed up, again and again, even when the path was dim. They did not wait for the stars to align; they lit their own fires beneath a moonless sky. They were patient, yes, but never passive. Their dreams were seeds, and they tended them daily, even when no sprout was in sight.

The lesson, then, is this: live now, and live completely. If you have a dream, begin today — even if your hands tremble, even if your voice falters. If you long to change, take one step, however small, upon that path. The gods favor not those who wait, but those who move. Each sunrise is a summons to creation; each sunset a reminder that the day of action is finite. Live this day as though it is both the first and the last, for in truth it may be either.

And so, let this truth be carved upon your heart: tomorrow is the ghost of your intentions, but today is the flesh of your becoming. Do not live for what may come — live for what is. Work, love, strive, fail, rise again, and laugh amidst the struggle. For those who dare to live fully in the present become immortal — not in years, but in the depth of their being. And when the future at last unfolds, it will not be a stranger to them, for they themselves have built it, moment by moment, today.