IRVING, Texas -- Jason Garrett's professional world is all about today.
Actually, it's really about this moment in time.
Not an hour from now. Not tonight. And certainly not an hour ago.
To live in the moment, Garrett stresses, allows his players to properly prepare and perform their best on Sundays.
"It's an important way to live life," Garett said recently. "It's an important way to be your best as a football coach, a player or a football team. Let the last one go. Don't worry about the next one. Focus on this one right now and the preparation leading up to this one.
"That's something we talk about, and we try to emphasize it in everything we do. Our game fits that. It's a one-play-at-a-time type of game, so we try to instill that in our players. How we can be our best each and every down and each and every week."
Garrett takes the same approach in his personal life, which is why he's not worried in the least about his contract. He's in the final year of a four-year contract, and we all expect him to get a new deal at season's end.
But what if his Dallas Cowboys win 10 games and miss the playoffs? Will Jerry Jones still give him an extension?
He'll worry about that when the season ends.
"I just know where I need to focus and where our team needs to focus," he said. "You need to focus on playing our best football and we focus on being our best today. Let's go to work, that's what I think about.
"It's a process. If you just keep trying to do things the right way, the results and the scoreboard will take care of itself. It's the way I think and the way we try to help this team think."
See, this is the time of the season when DeMarco Murray and Dez Bryant each prove to the Cowboys they should be paid like the best players in the game. This is the time of the year when Garrett shows Jerry why he deserves a new contract.
The Cowboys are 7-3, tied for first place in the NFC East with the Philadelphia Eagles and have four game division games left, including two against Philly.
Lead the Cowboys to the playoffs for the first time in four seasons and help the Cowboys make a lengthy playoff run, and Jerry might find room under the league's salary cap to fit Murray and Bryant.
Miss the playoffs for whatever reason and Jerry probably isn't going to be inclined to break the bank for either player or give Garrett an extension longer than, say, three years.
One of Garrett's biggest tasks during the final six seeks is to make sure Murray and Bryant take the same worry-free approach to their contract situations as he does.
Murray and Bryant will be free agents at season's end, and each wants a lucrative long-term deal.
There are zero guarantees either will return to the Cowboys next season.
However, the odds are pretty high Bryant will be back, even if the Cowboys have to use the franchise tag on him, which will pay him a one-year salary of about $12.5 million.
The chances of Murray returning are much lower. He's probably going to get an offer he can't refuse from another club, since his numbers are off the charts and he's on pace to break Emmitt Smith's single-season, franchise record of 1,773 yards.
We all know running backs have short-lived careers, and the Cowboys aren't going to make 26-year-old Murray one of the game's highest-paid RBs.
For Murray, at least, his contract situation won't be much of an issue. For as long as he can remember, Murray said he has been a guy who has never worried about things he can't control. He thinks it's a waste of time and energy.
Considering Murray's serious approach to his profession and demeanor, it's no surprise Murray would take that approach. Murray figures if he puts up the numbers, he's going to get paid -- whether it's in Dallas, his preference, or somewhere else.
Bryant's personality is a lot more volatile. He has recently changed agents, talked about his desire to be respected and has made it known he wants to be among the highest-paid receivers in the game.
In training camp, Bryant said he didn't want to negotiate a new deal during the season because he didn't want to be distracted. Read between the lines, and it now sounds as though he has backed off that thought process.
Too bad.
This isn't the time for Bryant to discuss a new deal. He needs to spend every bit of his mental and physical energy preparing for the final six games of this season, just like Murray and Garrett.
Winning is the best way to get paid. The journey to long-term riches starts Sunday against the New York Giants.