Paying it forward to yourself
One concept I try to carry with me is the concept of three selves. A past self, a present self, and a future self.
You can only take any action as your present self, but you can take actions now that your future self will be grateful for.
As the present self you can also look back on regrets, actions, or inaction that your past self made and use that to inspire and drive you to take action in the now.
From the future self’s perspective, when you arrive there, you will be able to enjoy the gratitude of knowing you helped yourself.
Chores
When I’m carrying out a chore, maybe even one I’m not so happy about doing, I can think to myself about how future me will benefit. One example of this I commonly encounter is when I document something I’m fairly sure I’ll have to do again. When time rolls around and that future me becomes present me, I’m very grateful to the past me who wrote the document and made my life easier.
Money
The same is true for money issues. For most of my life, if I know I’ve got a regular annual bill of any kind, I put aside a 12th of that money monthly and when that bill comes around, I happily don’t feel the pinch of it.
Time
Arguably time is one of the biggest assets we have and the most limited, you can get a raise at work next month and be a bit richer every month, but if you’d pushed to get a raise a year ago you’d have 12 x that monthly amount already.
If you can save yourself time by doing something in the present to affect your future it’s a great asset to your future self that you’ll really appreciate.
This can take many forms, booking a prepaid event months in
- Booking a prepaid event months in advance.
- Scheduling a massage or flotation session.
- Setting up a pension for yourself, which you can never start early enough to ensure a comfortable retirement.
Other People
You can apply some of this to others too in your life.
What would your partner/friend/child to have in the future that you take some action on today? A holiday, a college fund, a down payment on a house?
Conclusion
There’s many benefits to considering your future self in your actions today. And your future self will be very grateful if any actions you take.
What lessons can you learn from your past self to improve your present actions?
Imagine the satisfaction of looking back and thanking your past self for making wise decisions
Take some time now to think about what you’d like in the future that you can take some action on right now.
And as you go through your day to day life take opportunities to pay it forward to yourself, and if you can, others too.
