Organize Tomorrow Today
Eight Ways to Retrain Your Mind to Optimize Performance at Work and in Life
byJason Selk, Tom Bartow, Matthew Rudy
Book Edition Details
Summary
In a chaotic world where productivity is often equated with exhaustion, "Organize Tomorrow Today" unveils a revolutionary path to peak performance through the art of doing less. Crafted by the dynamic duo of Dr. Jason Selk, a mental toughness coach to Olympians and Fortune 500 leaders, and Tom Bartow, a former basketball coach turned top-tier business advisor, this guide reveals the secret sauce that propels elite athletes and executives to the zenith of their fields. The essence? Mastering the eight fundamentals of prioritizing what truly matters. By bridging the chasm between understanding and action, Selk and Bartow equip you with mental strategies that don't just promise career success but also nurture a fulfilling life. This book is your backstage pass to the performance-enhancing techniques that are typically reserved for those willing to spend a fortune. Embrace the power of intentional focus and transform your tomorrow today.
Introduction
Every morning, millions of people wake up feeling overwhelmed by their endless to-do lists, struggling to find focus amid constant distractions, and wondering why they can't seem to break through to the next level of success. The gap between where you are and where you want to be often feels insurmountable, but what if the solution isn't about working harder or finding more hours in the day? What if it's about rewiring how your mind approaches performance itself? The most successful people in sports and business don't achieve greatness by accident. They follow specific mental patterns that can be learned, practiced, and mastered. These aren't complex theories requiring years of study, but practical tools that can transform your daily performance in measurable ways. The key lies in understanding that your mind, like any powerful instrument, works best when you know how to operate it correctly. When you learn to organize your thoughts, choose your focus wisely, and develop unshakeable mental habits, you create the foundation for sustained excellence that separates high achievers from everyone else.
Master Your Priorities and Plan Ahead
At its core, peak performance begins with one fundamental skill: the ability to identify what matters most and prepare for it in advance. Most people approach their days reactively, putting out fires and responding to whatever demands the loudest attention. This scattered approach keeps you busy but rarely productive, creating the illusion of progress while leaving your most important goals unrealized. Nick Saban, the legendary football coach who has won multiple national championships, discovered this principle early in his career. Rather than overwhelming his players with extensive playbooks and countless objectives, Saban focused on what he called "the process." He taught his team to identify just three priority tasks each day and determine which single task was absolutely non-negotiable. This approach didn't limit their potential; it unleashed it by channeling their mental energy toward what would actually move them forward. The transformation was remarkable. Players who had previously felt scattered and overwhelmed suddenly found clarity and confidence. They weren't trying to do everything perfectly; they were doing the right things consistently. This shift from quantity to quality of focus became the cornerstone of Saban's championship culture. His teams learned to execute under pressure because they had practiced prioritizing under normal circumstances. The method is surprisingly simple yet powerful: each evening, write down the three most important tasks you need to complete tomorrow, then identify the one absolute must-do item from those three. This practice engages your subconscious mind to work on solutions while you sleep and ensures you start each day on offense rather than defense. When unexpected challenges arise, you'll handle them from a position of strength because your core priorities are already secured.
Choose Wisely and Maximize Your Time
The human mind has a fascinating limitation that most people fight against rather than work with: channel capacity. Your brain can only process a limited amount of information effectively at any given time, and when you exceed this threshold, performance across all areas begins to deteriorate. This isn't a weakness to overcome but a reality to embrace strategically. Bobby Gassoff learned this lesson in the most demanding environment imaginable. During Navy SEAL training's infamous "hell week," candidates endure nearly impossible physical and mental challenges designed to eliminate all but the most resilient. As Bobby crawled through mud with hundreds of pounds of gear, surviving on minutes of sleep while instructors constantly reminded trainees of the brutal tasks still ahead, he discovered something profound about focus. Instead of trying to mentally tackle the entire week of remaining challenges, Bobby narrowed his attention to just the next step. Not the next mile or the next hour, but literally the next single step forward. This microscopic focus allowed him to maintain forward momentum when thinking about the bigger picture would have been overwhelming. Each step became manageable, and each manageable step led to another. This principle of radical focus applies directly to professional and personal success. Rather than spreading your energy across multiple goals and commitments, choose one primary objective and attack it relentlessly. This doesn't mean abandoning other responsibilities, but rather ensuring that your most important work gets your best mental energy. Success comes from doing fewer things exceptionally well, not from doing everything adequately. The most successful people have learned to say no strategically, understanding that every yes to something unimportant is a no to something vital. They create maximum time by thinking in smaller units, attacking open spaces in their schedules, and ruthlessly eliminating activities that don't serve their core objectives.
Build Mental Toughness Through Self-Talk
Your internal dialogue shapes your reality more powerfully than almost any external factor. The voice in your head can either be your greatest ally, pushing you toward peak performance, or your harshest critic, undermining your confidence and sabotaging your efforts. Most people allow their minds to default to negative self-talk without realizing they have the power to reprogram this internal conversation. Katie Sutton discovered this truth during her first marathon after surviving breast cancer. At mile 24, with her body screaming in pain and her mind flooding with thoughts of quitting, Katie faced a choice that would define not just her race but her entire approach to challenges. The negative voices were loud and convincing, reminding her of her limitations and encouraging surrender. Instead of accepting this mental assault, Katie activated the identity statement she had been practicing: "Today I am strong. Today I am healthy. Today I am a beast." She repeated these words with conviction, using them to crowd out the negative chatter and refocus her mind on what she wanted to create rather than what she wanted to escape. The transformation was immediate and powerful. As Katie continued repeating her identity statement, something remarkable happened. Her focus shifted from the pain in her legs to the vision of crossing the finish line strong. Her breathing became more controlled, her pace steadied, and by mile 25, she was actually gaining speed. She finished with a personal best time, not because her body had suddenly become stronger, but because her mind had learned to direct her thoughts strategically. This mental workout becomes a daily practice: controlled breathing to calm your nervous system, positive identity statements to reinforce who you're becoming, and visualization of both past successes and future achievements. Just as you wouldn't expect to build physical strength without regular exercise, developing mental toughness requires consistent training of your thought patterns.
Communicate Powerfully and Become Abnormal
Excellence demands that you operate differently from average performers, and nowhere is this more evident than in how you communicate with yourself and others. Most people accept excuses, focus on factors beyond their control, and dwell on problems rather than solutions. These patterns feel normal because they're common, but they're also the primary barriers between you and breakthrough performance. When the stock market crashed in 2009, financial advisors across the country found themselves in crisis mode. Clients were panicking, portfolios were decimated, and many professionals felt helpless against forces completely outside their influence. It would have been natural and understandable to focus on the market conditions, government policies, and economic uncertainties that no individual advisor could control. Instead, the most successful advisors took a radically different approach. They created two lists: things they could control and things they couldn't control. The "can control" list included their effort, knowledge, organization, attitude with clients, tone of voice, and frequency of communication. The "cannot control" list included market performance, news cycles, and economic policies. The revelation was striking: nearly everyone had been spending their mental energy on the wrong list. By redirecting their focus to controllable factors, these advisors transformed their client relationships and their own sense of agency. They couldn't change the market, but they could change how they served their clients during the crisis. They couldn't control the news, but they could control the quality of information and reassurance they provided. This shift from external to internal focus became the foundation of their resilience and eventual success. Becoming abnormal means rejecting viable excuses, even when they seem perfectly reasonable. It means developing what's called a "Relentless Solution Focus," where you commit to finding at least one actionable step forward within sixty seconds of encountering any problem. It means training yourself to communicate with precision, preparing thoroughly for important conversations, and holding yourself to a standard of excellence that most people find unnecessary.
Summary
The path to peak performance isn't about superhuman talent or perfect circumstances; it's about training your mind to operate at its highest level consistently. As the research proves, "the most successful people never get it all done in any given day, but they always get the most important things done each day." This fundamental shift from trying to do everything to excelling at what matters most becomes the cornerstone of sustained achievement. These principles work because they align with how your brain naturally functions rather than fighting against it. When you organize tomorrow today, choose wisely, maximize your time, and communicate powerfully, you create a system that generates momentum and confidence. You stop reacting to circumstances and start creating the conditions for your own success. Your transformation begins with a single decision: choose one concept from this approach and commit to mastering it completely over the next three months. Don't try to implement everything at once; instead, trust the process of focused improvement. Start tomorrow morning by writing down your three most important tasks and identifying your one absolute must-do. This simple act will begin rewiring your mind for peak performance and set you on the path to becoming abnormal in the best possible way.
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