Tonight I’m thinking about being kind to our future self. For example, the Ben of tomorrow. Literally, tomorrow morning, is going to have to get dressed. If current Ben lays out clothes tonight, then tomorrow Ben will have an easier time of it, less stress, more time, and fewer decisions to make. Paying it forward, so to speak, for myself, seems like a pretty good ethic and a worthy habit to work on.
More often then I care to admit, I have not been good at taking care of future Ben. In fact, my bad habits and procrastination actually steal time and energy from future Ben; when I have to spend a bunch of time on a weekend playing catch-up on bills or laundry or whatever, instead of enjoying rest and recreation. Foisting work on my future self has a real opportunity cost. I am paying a debt of time and attention that my former self levied against me. Not cool. We can become accustomed to mistreating our future selves – definitely a bad habit. Going into financial debt is another good “bad” example.
The 365 Commitment provides the opportunity and framework to establish good habits that generate a reality in the future that we will likely get to enjoy. What future do you want to experience? Start out with easy stuff, like preparing for tomorrow morning. When I get up tomorrow morning, I want to simply turn the knob on the stove to start the per-loaded coffee pot, and quickly put on clothes that are laid out and ready to go. Shouldn’t be too hard. Heck, future me might even feel a bit encouraged by the care and consideration that current me sent to the future.
I realize this is pretty obvious stuff to many who may read it. But, if you are like me, it’s a real shift in mind-set to take care for the future, much less future me.
Ben Wagner (56)
Member The 365 Commitment
