My Future Self Would Like a Nap, and a Nice Cup of Coffee When I Wake.

I don’t recall where I came across the phrase “give your future self a gift,” and it really doesn’t matter because that phrase stuck with me since. I’d like to truthfully admit I’m awesome to my future self, though that’d be a lie. A lot of the time, I’m mostly thinking about my current self, there here and now me. Which, I guess, is fine for the short term because immediacy tends to bring urgency with it and sometimes I’m way too lazy to tackle the things I need to do now and give a little extra for some future time.

That’s okay. As long as I keep thinking about future me, I can sometimes give myself a gift that’ll be realized at a later date. This idea is similar to the “don’t put it down, put it away” mantra. If I spend a little extra upfront effort, it’ll pay off later. There’s obvious things like saving for retirement or trying to eat right and exercise to keep the body healthy where the benefits aren’t realized until later. And then there’s the less obvious ones like doing the dishes while I cook rather than letting them all pile up. The former gives my future self a reprieve from dishes after I’m satiated. The latter gives my future self work.

Things like this are ridiculously easy to grasp. I have decades of experience that shows putting things off usually requires more effort in the long run than if I expend the effort now. Yet it’s stupid easy to put things off. Way too easy. I don’t know why it took a little phrase to highlight my future self’s well being and that I can positively affect that by being mindful of it now.