267 - Day-Tight Compartments
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Show Notes:
Today, I’m going to share what it means to live in day-tight compartments. This is a follow-up episode from last year called, “Be Where Your Feet Are.” Basically an encouragement and reminder to you to be present today and that’s all you need to focus on.
For the full episode, hit play above or read through below.
One of the biggest struggles of our day is anxiety and worry. I am just as guilty as anyone. There's so much information that we consume on a daily basis. There's so many things that we have to juggle and handle as moms; as people living in 2025. It's just… it's a lot.
We're simultaneously trying to deal with our past and looking towards the future and making plans while also living in today. Emotionally, it can just be a lot to handle sometimes, but I'm always reminded that the Lord has asked us to focus on what we have in our hands; to be content with what He's given us. This is biblical. I mean, Paul says, “I'm content in whatever circumstance I'm in.”
The Lord's prayer teaches us to pray, “Give us this day, our daily bread.” God is always so present with us right now. He is with you. He's speaking to you right now. I don't know about you, but sometimes I get so consumed with worrying about the future or what happened months ago that's still bothering me or, you know, just replaying things in my head. I don't need to be doing that. I read this story and this episode is just going to be about this story that has helped me immensely think about how to view my life. It's such a good visual take on what it looks like to live worry-free, anxiety-free, and to really focus on being present and enjoying the gift of today.
I know that's cliche. I know there's so many phrases and things that I could say. Know it's not about the destination. It's about the journey. There's so many things that I just kind of eye roll. Like yeah, okay, I get it. But there's a lot to think about and plan for in life. But this is a new one for me. This is a new picture in my head that I read and it has stayed with me for almost a year now. I just thought this is a great podcast episode. This is something that has been on my heart and mind for so long that I really want to share it with you. It comes from the book, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie. The book I'm holding in my hand as I'm recording this, you'll probably hear me ruffling the pages cause I'm going to be reading from it. It's so old. My mom gave it to me. She read it probably 30 years ago and then my kids dropped it in the bathtub when I was reading it.
So it's dried out and it's got really brown, crinkly pages and that's the best kind of book. So I'm going to be reading straight from there. Chapter one is called “Live in Day-tight Compartments.” The book is by Dale Carnegie, but the story is about Sir William Osler. Sir William Osler organized the world famous John Hopkins School of Medicine. He became Regis Professor of Medicine at Oxford, the highest honor that can be bestowed on any medical man in the British Empire. He was knighted by the King of England when he died. Two huge volumes containing 1,466 pages were required to tell the story of his life. What a legacy. What a man.
There's this phrase that he was told earlier in his life in the spring of 1871 that was said to change his life. Twenty-one words from Thomas Carlisle. He said it helped him live free from worry. And those words were this:
“Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.”
Now 42 years later after he read those words, after he built this life that I just read you about, he was invited to address the students of Yale University. When he did, he told them, “Yes, I've accomplished a lot in my life. I've done a lot. I have had a lot of things written about me. I've written a lot of things, but it's not because I am any smarter than you. I don't have brains of a special quality. My secret is not that, you know, I'm this amazingly smart person and you should try to be like me.” He said he owed all of his success to living in day-tight compartments.
Of course, the students were like, “What does that mean? What does he mean by that?” He said that a few months before he had crossed the Atlantic on a great ocean liner where the captain standing on the bridge could press a button and presto, there was clinging of machinery and various parts of the ship were immediately shut off from one another. They were shut off into watertight compartments.
Okay, so this is the visual that I want you to take. Sorry, I'm going back and forth between talking and reading straight from the book. So I want to make sure I give credit to Dale Carnegie and say I am reading a lot of this, but now I'm going to pause and tell you this is the visual that I want you to take with you.
This is a big ocean liner, crossing the Atlantic, and kind of like in the movie the Titanic when they start to shut off parts of the ship to try to save it from sinking. That can be done in these big ocean liners where they shut them off into these watertight compartments. Okay, they're completely sealed off from one another.
While Dr. Osler is speaking to the students, this is what he says, okay? So keeping that visual in your mind of this ocean liner boat, he says, “Now each one of you is a much more marvelous organization than the Great Liner and bound on a longer voyage. What I urge is that you so learn to control the machinery as to live with day-tight compartments as the most certain way to ensure safety on the voyage. Get on the bridge and see that at least the great bulkheads are in working order. Touch a button in here at every level of your life, the iron doors shutting out the past, the dead yesterdays. Touch another and shut off with a metal curtain, the future, the unborn tomorrows. Then you are safe. Safe for today. Shut off the past. Let the dead past bury its dead. Shut out the yesterdays, which have lighted fools the way to dusty death. The load of tomorrow, added to that of yesterday, carried today, makes the strongest falter. Shut off the future as tightly as the past. The future is today. There is no tomorrow. The day of man's salvation is now. Waste of energy, mental distress, nervous worries, dog the steps of a man who is anxious about the future. Shut clothes, then the great four and aft bulkheads and prepare to cultivate the habit of a life of day-tight compartment.”
All right, I'm going to read that whole thing one more time.
“Now to each of you is a much more marvelous organization than the Great Liner and bound on a longer voyage. What I urge is that you so learn to control the machinery as to live with day-tight compartments as the most certain way to ensure safety on the voyage. Get on the bridge and see that at least the great bulkheads are in working order. Touch a button in here at every level of your life, the iron doors shutting out the past, the dead yesterdays. Touch another and shut off with a metal curtain the future, the unborn tomorrows. Then you are safe. Safe for today. Shut off the past. Let the dead past bury its dead. Shut out the yesterdays which have lighted fools the way to dusty death. The load of tomorrow, added to that of yesterday, carried today makes the strongest falter. Shut off the future as tightly as the past. The future is today. There is no tomorrow. The day of man's salvation is now. Waste of energy, mental distress, nervous worries, dog the steps of a man who is anxious about the future. Shut clothes, then the great fore and aft bulkheads, and prepare to cultivate the habit of a life of day-tight compartments.”
So, did Dr. Osler mean that we should not make any effort to prepare for tomorrow? No. But he did go on in that address to say the best possible way to prepare for tomorrow is to concentrate with all your intelligence, all your enthusiasm, on today's work. Superbly today. The only way possible that you can prepare for the future is to focus on today.
I love that idea of and that picture of this great ocean liner shutting off all of the thoughts and worries of tomorrow in these day-tight compartments. Shutting out all the worries from the past, closing the doors and focusing completely on today. I did an episode, like I mentioned, Be Where Your Feet Are. It's the same idea, the same principle to show up completely and focus on your very best today. That's all that we have. That's all that we can do. It's easy to be consumed with worry. It's easy to be overwhelmed by the information of all that's going on in the world. All the political tension, the hurt and darkness that surrounds us in our own country and in countries all around the world. It's hard to not internalize all of that. It's hard to not think about what is going to happen in the future. It's hard to not dwell on the pain of the past.
But that's when you’ve just gotta close your eyes and imagine your life as this great big ship. Shut off with a metal curtain the worries of tomorrow. Shut off the past and just focus on today.
That's what it means to live in day tight compartments. I hope that you will remember that. That you will take this picture that has meant a lot to me in the last year or so (maybe a little less than) and carry it with you the rest of your life to really plant your feet, be where your feet are, live in day-tight compartments, and give today your all.
I'm going to close today with that quote that started everything early in Dr. Osler's life. The quote is by Thomas Carlisle and he said,
“Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.”
Thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time.
