"When we sacrifice a future goal for immediate satisfaction, we are putting our future up for sale."
- James McPartland
We all have a discount rate, which is the deal we make with ourselves when we give in to the urges of immediate satisfaction over the actions required to live into the life we have imagined living. We dismiss our future self (the idealized version of who we believe we can be) as someone we can always start working on tomorrow. We have self-control… until we need it.
Exercising our own willpower is a challenge for most of us, but we are all capable of triumph if we consistently work to strengthen this muscle.
Consider taking a moment – either once a day or once a week - to have a meeting with the two of you, your current self and future self. Step into the shoes of your future self some three to five years from now and allow that image to inspire you. Now, what would he or she say to your current self? If you think about the advice your current self would receive, you’d likely be strongly encouraged to delay most forms of immediate gratification. Further, you would probably hear that the life you have dreamed of is actually available to you if you do the work today.
If the best time to plant a tree was five to ten years ago, then the second-best time is today!
