I recently had someone share the Mark Twain quote "There has been much tragedy in my life; at least half of it actually happened."
I mean, that's how we do things a lot. We worry about what's ahead. Then we fear. Then we focus on the fear. Then we have to manage that fear. I wrote about a month ago (Change Management) about living in the day—the moment. Those 12 step programs have it right. We are to take one day at a time. The tragedy within a futuristic tragedy is not only the fact that we short-come the day itself, and our impact within it, but our focus is off. And it is now on some ghost we choose to chase.
A former colleague stated "The minute you focus on the competition, you've already lost." Perhaps some famous coach uttered those words, but I don't recall. Essentially this means, you're not at your best—better yet, WE'RE not at our best—because your focus is not on the task at hand. You are not paying attention to right now. You're head may be in the game, per se, but it's not on the play we're currently trying to complete.
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself." - Matt 6:34