“Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.”
—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.8

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day.”
—Matthew 6:34 (RSV-2CE)

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Introduction: The Tyranny of Tomorrow

Anxiety about tomorrow is as old as humanity itself. The Romans wrestled with it; first-century Judeans struggled with it; and in our own age of calendars, alerts, and forecasts, we’re still ensnared by it.

“You have power over your mind—not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” — Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius wrote those words in Meditations nearly two thousand years ago, but they strike just as hard today. The emperor wasn’t giving some abstract lesson from a throne; he was reminding himself, in the middle of war and politics, that control is an illusion outside the walls of our own mind. The only real power we hold is over our judgments, our choices, and our attitudes.

Slow Down to Speed Up

We live in an age where “fast” is the ultimate virtue. Fast Wi-Fi, fast apps, fast delivery, fast news cycles. If something takes longer than a few seconds, we start to fidget. Productivity software promises more speed, but often what it delivers is more noise, more clutter, and more distraction.

The irony? We’re sprinting, but not moving forward. We’ve confused acceleration with progress.

The truth—one I had to learn the hard way—is this:
sometimes the fastest way to move ahead is to deliberately slow down.