How would your life be different if … You renamed your "To-Do" list to your "Opportunities" list? Let today be the day … You look at each day as a treasure chest filled with limitless opportunities and take joy in checking many off your list.

Life will become less about efficiently crossing off what was on your to-do list or rushing through everything on your schedule and more about changing what you put on there in the first place.

Paying it forward is not about grandiose gestures, but in refocusing your perspective on making every day count.

It’s essential to draw up a “things to do” list on a daily basis and set priorities in executing them, making sure that any unfinished task gets posted to the next day’s list.

(1) Jot down new tasks and assignments on your list during the day; (2) next morning, transfer these new items from your list onto your calendar; and (3) then take a couple of minutes to plan your day.

Each day, spend some time on two things:

1. working toward something that will pay off years from now
2. appreciating something that is happening right now

A Done for the Day list is not a list of everything we theoretically could do today, or a list of everything we would love to get done. These things will inevitably extend far beyond the limited time available. Instead, this is a list of what will constitute meaningful and essential progress.

When I learned how to plan each day and set specific goals, I became more focused on the things that really make a difference.

How would your life be different if … You stopped worrying about things you can't control and started focusing on the things you can? Let today be the day … You free yourself from fruitless worry, seize the day and take effective action on things you can change.

Start quantifying your days by how many healthy, positive things you accomplished, and you will see how quickly you begin to make progress.

Once you stop believing that it might somehow be possible to avoid hard choices about time, it gets easier to make better ones. You begin to grasp that when there's too much to do, and there always will be, the only route to psychological freedom is to let go of the limit-denying fantasy of getting it all done and instead to focus on doing a few things that count.

How would your life be different if … You stopped focusing on what you didn't want and started focusing on what you do want? Let today be the day … You establish a clear intent, make a plan, and take actions towards your intent.

Don't count the days, make the days count.

When you start considering things not as obligations but as opportunities, you start taking advantage of them rather than trying to avoid them.