Winners live in the present tense. People who come up short are

On the Power of the Present and the Strength of the Living Moment

When Alex Rodriguez, the great athlete of his time, declared, “Winners live in the present tense. People who come up short are consumed with future or past. I want to be living in the now,” he spoke not merely as a man of sport, but as a philosopher of life. His words rise beyond the diamond and the cheering crowds; they echo an eternal wisdom known to warriors, poets, and sages alike — that the present moment is the only realm where life truly unfolds. The past is but a shadow, the future a dream, yet the now is the living flame in which destiny is forged.

To live in the present tense is to master the art of being. The winner, in Rodriguez’s vision, is not simply the one who scores more runs or claims more trophies, but the one who moves through time without chains — unbound by regret and untroubled by anxiety. For the one who dwells on the past carries the weight of what cannot be changed, and the one who lives too far ahead carries the burden of what has not yet come. Both stumble under loads that are illusions. But the one who stands fully in the present — alert, aware, and alive — walks with lightness, purpose, and power.

The ancients, too, knew this truth. The Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius, emperor of Rome, wrote in his Meditations, “Confine yourself to the present.” Though he ruled over vast lands, he knew that the only true kingdom a man can govern is his own mind in this instant. When storms of war and politics raged about him, he trained himself to return always to the moment before him — to his breath, his thoughts, his duty. He understood, as Rodriguez did, that greatness is not achieved by dwelling on what has been lost or dreaming of what may be gained, but by giving one’s full strength to what is before one’s hands and heart.

In the arena, as in life, the present is a battlefield. A batter who fears the memory of yesterday’s failure or imagines tomorrow’s headline cannot see the ball as it speeds toward him. Likewise, the soul distracted by old wounds or future fears cannot grasp the opportunity glowing before it. Rodriguez’s wisdom, born from the rhythm of competition, is the same wisdom that guided generals into victory and artists into creation: the power to focus entirely on now. The warrior, the craftsman, the lover — all must be rooted in this moment to perform their sacred work.

Consider the tale of Joan of Arc, the maiden who rose from obscurity to lead armies and crown a king. She did not pause to mourn her humble birth nor tremble at the vast future before her. She acted as the voice within commanded, moment by moment, battle by battle. Each day was her world entire. Even at the stake, as the flames rose, she did not look backward in regret or forward in fear. She remained steadfast in the present — and so her courage became immortal. Such is the power of the soul that lives fully in the now: though the body perishes, the spirit transcends time itself.

To live in the present tense, then, is not an escape from responsibility — it is the highest form of engagement. It means to meet each instant with your whole being, to respond to life not as a victim of what has been or what may be, but as a creator shaping what is. This is the state the ancients called kairos — the right, divine moment — when thought and action are one. The one who masters it becomes unstoppable, for they no longer waste strength on phantoms.

The lesson, my friends, is this: Do not dwell too long in the shadows of memory, nor chase the mirages of the future. Learn from the past, yes — but then release it. Plan for tomorrow — but then return to the task of today. When you wake, wake completely. When you work, give yourself entirely. When you speak, be fully present in your words. The world honors not the one who drifts through time, but the one who stands like a flame in the wind — bright, focused, and alive in this very heartbeat.

So remember the words of Alex Rodriguez: “Winners live in the present tense.” For in the eternal now lies all victory, all creation, and all peace. Time is a river, and though its currents carry us endlessly forward, the wise learn to plant their feet in the flow, to feel its force, and to act from the still point within it. To live in the present is to conquer time itself — and in doing so, to truly live.