By Michael Dattolo

What do you wish you could change about YOU?

I know three words that can change your life. In many ways, they have changed mine. Hard to believe? Let me explain. How many times have you set a goal to accomplish something—and then, days later, found yourself returning to your old habits again? You had good intentions—but your goal turned out to be harder than you thought, and so, maybe after a few days of working at it, you gave up.

These three words can change that.

What is it that you wish you could change? Do you want to be better at basketball? Watch less television? Be more positive? Learn to pray? Be less shy? Get in better shape?

Whatever you want to do, these three words will help. Even if your goal seems too hard, these three words can help you turn your good intentions into concrete actions.

These words are simple. And they can help you do more than you thought was possible. But don’t get me wrong—though this three-word formula is ridiculously easy, that doesn’t mean you won’t have to work to turn your intentions into actions.

The good news? This formula works. And no matter who you are—no matter how shy, how out of shape, how bad at sports, how pessimistic, how young or how old you are—you can use this formula. Anyone can use these three words.

All right. Enough already. What are the three words?

This principle for turning your intentions into actions is found in the Bible, in the first few pages of the New Testament. Here it is: “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself” (Matthew 6:34). This verse is definitely not talking about a lack of planning. But it is talking about avoiding anxious, worried thoughts about tomorrow. This verse is talking primarily about a mindset—keeping our attention focused on the day at hand. Our three-word key is taken largely from this verse.

So here it is: No matter how hard something seems, do it—just for today.

Just for today. That’s it—those are the three words.

Just for today is all about what’s in your mind. When you look at all that you are supposed to do—exercise, be friendly, study, pray, obey your parents, work, do homework, and so on and so on—it can seem impossibly daunting. When you look at how far away you are from being as good at something as you want to be, that can be daunting also. Well forget about that! FOCUS ON RIGHT NOW—today!

Don’t worry about the times you have messed up in the past.

Don’t worry about whether or not you can keep it up in the future. Just do it—today.

Let me give you a personal example to show you what I mean. When I first came to college, I wasn’t very good at basketball. Okay, I was terrible. Every time I scored, the entire crowd burst into cheers. And by every time, I mean twice—because that’s how many baskets I made the whole first season. If you passed me the ball, it was a toss-up as to whether I’d catch it with my hands or my forehead.

It’s not that way anymore. Something has changed. No one cheers when I score anymore, except my 8-year-old sister and she thinks everything I do is worthy of adoration. My average score per game last season was three times higher than my total points from the whole first season. I’ve even coached one of our college’s girls basketball teams for several years. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying I’m that great—but I don’t hurt the team when I play anymore.

What changed? I owe a huge part of the transformation to simply having a different mindset. I used to go into each game worried about how poorly I had done in the past. I don’t want to touch the ball, because I might make a huge mistake like I did last game, I’d think.

But then I changed my thinking: I put the past out of my mind. Instead of worrying about it, I ran out onto the court thinking, Just for today, I’m going to play as hard as I can.

I stopped worrying about the crowd. I stopped wondering if I’d be able to play well again the next game. I stopped worrying what people would say the next day. I just played. Just for that day, just for that game, I played.

It worked.

Of course I had to practice to get better. But just for today helped there also. I stopped worrying about how much practice it would take to get me to get better. Just for today—just for this morning, I will get up and practice. A goal that seemed too big for me was accomplished.

Here’s the point: Even if something seems too big for YOU, you CAN do it—just for today! This day—not tomorrow—today, you can do it. You cannot carry the burden of your whole life on your shoulders at once, but the weight of one day is light! Thinking just for today will reduce stress, guaranteed. When doubts that you can keep something up, or fears that you will fail as in the past paralyze you into inaction, say to yourself, I will do this thing—just for today!

Just for today means making the most of today. The Bible says to “redeem the time” (Ephesians 5:16), meaning make the most of every minute. Fight the trap of laziness by accomplishing your goals just for today. What talent do you want to develop? What do you want to learn, or overcome? Work on it—just for today! You can’t change yesterday, so forget about it. You can deal with tomorrow when you get there. For now, just think about today. No matter how hard you think something is, you can do it for just one day!

Remember the verse where we started—”Take therefore no thought for the morrow …”? The verse right before that tells us the most important thing we can do today. “[S]eek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). Does that sound hard? It isn’t hard if you only have to do it today. It might seem hard to think about praying every day. But what about today? Can you pray just for today?

I’m not telling you to try to pray every day. I’m telling you, you can pray today! Don’t worry about tomorrow. Just do it today. Seek God’s righteousness and His Kingdom today. And if you do seek that all-important goal today God can help you with your other goals today also because nothing is impossible for Him (Luke 1:37).

Look at yourself. What can you do today? What kind of person can you be just for today? Today, cast off stress and fears that paralyze you. Today, make the most of your time. Throw off doubts about tomorrow. Turn your good intentions into concrete actions—just for today.