Today You Should Give Future You Gifts
Do something today that will benefit yourself tomorrow
I wanted to procratinate this week. I had a list of things I needed to get done. Mowing the lawn was at the top of the list. I don’t hate mowing. Sometimes I enjoy my time behind the mower with my favorite music in my ear. But this week? I just wanted to sit inside and do nothing.
I had an excuse to delay it. There was a small rain shower that morning. I could claim it was too wet to mow. I considered it. A lot. I could save the mowing for Future Alan so Today Alan could be lazy. Sure, Future Alan had new things on his list, but that’s not Today Alan’s problem. Why should he care? It was tempting. In the end, Today Alan left Future Alan the gift of time and mowed.
In the past, Today Alan would not have evebn considered Future Alan, but then I worked with someone who mentioned this concept of being nice to Future You. It completely changed my perspective.
If I think about Future Alan, it makes me less likely to procrastinate and leave jobs for another day. It seemed like a good idea on Tuesday to leave the mowing for Wednesday. What’s one day? Why does it matter? Some days it doesn’t matter and pushing it is fine. This week, Wednesday Alan already had a long list of things to do. Adding the yard work would have…
