I begin this blog post with the following caveat; I am a die-hard Philadelphia Eagles fan.

The recent success of Temple Football coupled with Chip Kelly’s first offseason as General Manager has football on the minds of a lot of Philadelphians and Temple Law students. Chip Kelly has brought energy to the Philadelphia Eagles that has revitalized the franchise, fan base, and city. On a more personal level, Coach Kelly helped me turn around my 1L year after a tough first semester.

Law students are always looking ahead. We know that finals are always lurking around the corner, even in the middle of September. Without fail, a student in the first day of class will raise his or her hand and ask, “Can you tell us anything about the final?” We spend our free time planning out the semester and anticipating final grades. We wonder how those grades will stack up next to our classmates, and where our success will lead us. We worry about when to send applications out to interview for jobs we won’t begin for several months. The life and mindset of a student is a constant struggle of planning for what is next.

“Let all that you do today be done to the best of your ability, and success will undoubtedly follow.”

While setting long-term goals is an invaluable skill set required in the field of law, it also has the potential to become a trap from which we cannot escape. In my first semester of my 1L year, I focused so much on my destination that I forgot to look down at my feet to see if I was still on the right path. I stressed out about being prepared for finals, landing interviews for summer employment, and about my future in general. By the time finals rolled around, I was a mental mess – life had become a juggling act of future prospects. I had too many balls in the air, and eventually they all came crashing down.

The grades I received after my first semester were a punch to the gut. All my planning, all my dreams of a successful future seemed to be snuffed out in an instant. Nothing had gone according to plan. What had I done wrong?

Searching for inspiration, I turned to Chip Kelly. I have long been enthralled with the rise of Kelly, from being the special teams coach of the freshman squad at Colombia University, to the head coach of the wildly successful Oregon Ducks, and finally the head coach and de facto general manager of my beloved Philadelphia Eagles. The man exudes success, and at a very rapid rate. Clearly, he must have had a meticulously detailed long-term plan to get to where he is today, right?

Wrong.

“Win the day.”

“Win the day,” is a quote Chip Kelly reinforced in the back of the minds of his players at Oregon, and continues to preach with the Eagles. These three small words can have a profound effect on the way you approach life, as a professional athlete or a law student. Personally, I found Kelly’s words incredibly useful as I transitioned between my 1L fall and spring semesters.

“Win the day.” What does it mean? For Kelly’s players, it means go out and have an excellent practice. It means blocking out a future matchup with the hated Dallas Cowboys and dreams of playing in the Super Bowl. It means focusing instead that day’s film session. It means making the most of a day off. It means fully dedicating yourself to every task. Let all that you do today be done to the best of your ability, and success will undoubtedly follow.

As I began my 1L spring semester, with new inspiration from Chip Kelly, I went back to the drawing board with my approach. I ditched the long term planning (and stressing) in favor of a renewed dedication to getting the most out of that day. In order to win the day, you have to be present. You can’t be present if you are fixated on the future. You have to be present every hour of every day. At that point, I was not thinking about finals. I was not thinking about summer employment. Instead, I focused on knowing that Civil Procedure case like the back of my hand. My productivity increased, and more importantly than that, I was simply in a better state of mind. Was I stressed once finals came around again? Absolutely. But it was accompanied by an inner calm that I had not felt the previous semester. Without going into too much detail, the grades were drastically improved upon, and the employment problem took care of itself.

Every law student knows how difficult it is to find a balance, whether you find yourself in the Top 10%, or at the bottom. I still find myself struggling with stress about what may or may not come to pass in the future. In those moments, I have to remind myself to let that thought go and focus on winning the day. But it does not just apply to law school. It applies to being a good brother, sister, son, daughter, father, mother, friend, and person. Be present, and I promise you, you will get the most out of whatever you choose to do. You will feel better while you do it.

“Win the day.”