Company Blog

Drive, Baby, Drive

by Adam Zack — June 24, 2026

“Emerson on closing the books every night — and why letting go isn’t the same as not caring.”

I read this Emerson passage again last week, and it hit different than it used to. Funny how that happens — the same words, but you’re not the same person reading them.

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year. He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety. Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt, crept in. Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely, with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. This new day is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on the yesterdays.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

He’s not telling us to be reckless. He’s telling us to close the books. Every night. No exceptions. That’s harder than it sounds in this business. A bad shift sticks to you. A tough conversation with an employee replays on the drive home. A vendor problem follows you into bed. We carry yesterday into today like it’s part of the job — like letting go would mean we didn’t care enough the first time.

Emerson says the opposite. Forgive the blunders. Yours and everyone else’s. Then put them down. Holding onto yesterday’s mess doesn’t make today better — it just means two bad days instead of one.

So here’s what I got from Emerson this time:

Own the day. Don’t let fret and anxiety run the store for you. You can’t control every shift, every customer, every number — but you can control whether you let the noise own you.

Forgive fast. Yourself first. Then everyone else. A blunder is a blunder, not a character flaw. Fix what you can, learn what you should, and move on before sundown.

Show up grateful. For the people who show up for you. The manager who covers a shift without being asked. The cashier who calms down an angry customer before it escalates. Say it out loud. Gratitude spoken is worth ten times gratitude felt.

Tomorrow doesn’t owe you anything for today’s effort, and today doesn’t owe you anything for yesterday’s mistakes. Each one stands on its own.

So close the book on today. All of it. The wins and the blunders both.

Then take the wheel and drive, baby, drive.