Lately I have noticed that a lot of my success come from one factor: having done something consistently for an extended period or time.
If I look at all the parts of my life that are on track: relationships, career, health – all of them are doing well today, because of previous efforts I’ve made.
To put it another way: any current success is a result of me having taken action ‘yesterday’ and the day before that, and in some cases for several years. The fact that I had the discipline to ‘do it yesterday’ has resulted in a better today.
You have probably heard phrases such as ‘your future self will thank you’ and I think this is exactly what I am getting at.
Very often if you ask someone if they could go back in time and change something, it is usually to do with making better choices. Saving money, doing more exercise, practicing a skill, etc. It’s interesting how we can see in hindsight the value of making the effort, and yet we don’t do it today, in this moment.
When I say ‘we’ I am really meaning ‘I’.
I’m guilty as anyone of avoiding doing certain things I know will add value to my life tomorrow and in the future. It’s all a matter of seeing how today’s efforts link to the future, and having the foresight to take the action now.
It is very easy to feel like slacking off today, because we haven’t felt the repercussions of the laziness yet. Living with a sense of immediate gratification means that you are essentially damaging your tomorrows.
Of course, I realize that by saying ‘do it yesterday’ that this is actually impossible. You can’t go back in time and do something over.
But you can see today as tomorrow’s yesterday. If you make some effort today, then tomorrow you will be glad that you decided to ‘do it yesterday’.
If you do something yesterday for long enough, the success that you seek will arrive today.
(How’s that for a mind bender?)
It’s a great mind bender. I’ve thought a lot about my future self recently while trying to re-establish a healthy morning routine. Though a lot of times my current self wins and I my future self ends up disappointed.
This is why I have tried another mind-bending approach: I sometimes write a little reminder in the evening for me to find the next morning, written from the perspective of the disappointed current ex-future self, and I very kindly ask my future self to make a better choice next morning. Sometimes it even works. 🙂
I love it! It’s so true because that’s the way we speak to our past selves – we are honest and harsh about the poor decisions we made back then, but what we forget is that back then, we were ‘in the now’ as well. – DMS
Great read!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!