Curious about NOW: What Does this Strong Word Mean to You, Your Life and Your Business?

“Go for it now. The future is promised to no one.” - Wayne Dyer, American writer

“Your big opportunity may be right where you are now.” - Napoleon Hill, American writer

I was watching a short video today where Kevin Nations was sharing seven strong words. These words weren’t what a marketer usually suggests. They are words that influence a buyer to buy or a potential client to sit up and pay attention. I am not going to share all seven at this time, but I am going to address the strength of NOW.

If there is anything I have learned during my many years, it is that doing, saying, and planning now - rather than waiting until later – pays off big time. My tagline includes the word “speed” and we definitely live in a time period where speed becomes more and more important daily.

Do you answer pressing problems now? How about urgent e-mails and phone calls? Do you get right down to working on the unpleasant tasks now? Or do you do the laundry instead?

How about that new plan of healthy eating and daily exercising – now or tomorrow? What have you been putting off that you know needs to be started now? I submit to you that we all tend to avoid the unpleasantries and the difficult tasks. The good news, however, is how extraordinary we feel when we have tackled and completed them NOW.

Of course, I found a plethora of now quotations to share with you:

• “The time to save is now. When a dog gets a bone, he doesn't go out and make a down payment on a bigger bone. He buries the one he's got.” – Will Rogers, American actor
• “The past is a ghost, the future a dream, and all we ever have is now.” – Bill Cosby, American comedian
• “We are all, right now, living the life we choose.” - Peter McWilliams, American writer
• “I've done a lot of things and I've been a lot of people, but now I've come to realize who I am.” - Bobby Darin, American musician
• “If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative.” - Woody Allen, American director
• “Happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so.” - Robert Green Ingersoll, American lawyer

And, several more:

• “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” - Henry David Thoreau, American author
• “I thought, if ever there were a time to write a book about hope, it's now.” - Studs Terkel, American journalist
• “The time for action is now. It's never too late to do something.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French novelist
• “Begin to be now what you will be hereafter.” - William James, American philosopher
• “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.” - George S. Patton, American soldier
• “I got only one thing to say. Whatever you're thinking right now, do it. Do it!” - Eamon, American musician
• “We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.” - Martin Luther King, Jr., American activist

I suggest getting a piece of cardboard and write on it, “DO IT NOW!” Post it in full view of where you work and anytime you find yourself procrastinating, check out your sign and do it!