Let’s face it, we’re all thinking of our own futures from a perspective that we believe will be right for us.
We worry what might happen.
We worry what might not happen.
The future is uncertain and seems very uncontrollable.
But what if I told you there’s actually a way to decide on our own future?
Yes there is, but before you jump of excitement, there’s more to it.
It would be very nice and comfortable to simply decide one day what we want our future to look like and then it would end up happening, right?
Unfortunately, that’s way to easy and not at all how it works.
We can decide our own futures, but the answer is more boring and basic than you might think.
It lies in what we decide to do today, tomorrow and next week that will shape our future.
If you spend most of that time in the couch watching tv, then the future will look very similar, and you’ll feel stuck in the very same situation.
But if you finally decide that today is day 1 of something new and start to change things up, then your future will turn out differently.
You see, everything we ever do will impact our future in some way or another.
Some sooner and other later.
Eating junk food = pleasant now but a unhealthy future.
Exercising = uncomfortable now but a healthy future.
Perhaps eating junk food will please you in the moment but it won’t be noticeable tomorrow.
If you eat it repeatedly and multiple times per week, then at some point you will notice it.
The results of exercising will not show up tomorrow either.
With both these examples we have to wait before the outcome is noticeable.
But by the time it actually does, we might’ve eaten more junk food and expanded the unhealthiness or exercised more and expanded on the greatness.
Because neither result show up immediately we tend to neglect that what we’re doing will impact us later, either good or bad.
And when the result do show up later, it’s easier to blame something or someone else if it’s not a desirable one.
That’s why it often times is easier to make the comfortable choice, because why would we put ourselves through such pain now and have to wait for the pleasure to arrive when the other option gives us the pleasure instantly?
When we do something comfortable, we seem to be willing to repeat the task and wait forever for the outcome to arrive.
And when doing the uncomfortable, we expect the result to show up immediately or we stop doing them entirely.
Wouldn’t it be great to utilize that same level of patience for the uncomfortable tasks and making them more enticing as well?
We have proven to ourselves that we are willing to wait for results.
That’s what we repeatedly do with our comfortable actions.
Most of the time, the outcomes of our comfortable actions are good now but not very pleasant in the future.
And vice versa, the results of the uncomfortable actions are typically not as nice now but even more pleasant at a way later stage.
Yet, we’re still willing to put our interest in what will please us now rather than later even though we clearly know that it might not be the best choice for the future.
I believe there will be a point in everyone’s lives where we come to realize that the position we’re in is because of what we chose to do now.
We never know when that time will come but I can assure you that it might very well be too late to change anything.
It seems like most of us are unaware or willingly ignore this fact and leave our hopes in our boss’ hands.
Ask any elderly what their advice to the younger generation would be.
I can almost assure you that the most common thing you’ll hear are regrets of things which they didn’t fully pursue.
Regrets of taking life too seriously and caring so damn much about anything and missing out on large parts of their lives because of it.
Filled with regrets of not experiencing the things they wanted to when they had the opportunity.
Regrets, regrets and regrets – a ton of regrets.
Will you repeat the very same mistake they did and realize things when it’s too late or are you going to do something about while you still can?
So, is everything that you’re about to do today something that will make your future self proud or filled with regret?
Decide which one it will be and act accordingly.
Just know that you have the choice and power to decide upon your own future and the only one you can ever blame or thank is yourself.
I hope you’ll be on the side where you thank yourself instead of blaming, but it’s your call.
What will it be?