A lot of people will tell you over and over that you need to start focusing on the moment before you if you want to be able to move on in life, but it’s not that simple. You still need to keep the future in mind when you’re working on making progress.
I know, doing things today to prepare for tomorrow might not sound too fun, but it can be very important. Why set yourself back tomorrow when you can do something today? Don’t delay yourself because you’re lazy, put an effort forth now so that tomorrow things will be more as they should be.
Don’t get me wrong, you should enjoy the moment before you and live your life, but you shouldn’t forget that tomorrow matters as much as today does. Why put something off today that you can do now only to stress over it tomorrow? Getting it done now will allow you to feel better in the long-run, won’t it?
We should all be making decisions with our future in mind. I know, easier said than done but still important and worth diving into. You should be taking care of your future self, not causing setbacks. You can be mindful and still prepare for the things to come. These things can go hand in hand if you allow them to.
Psychology Today wrote as follows on this topic:
To move forward in life, you must open yourself up to risk, faulty decision-making, possibly getting lost, or feeling misguided. There is no “one size fits all” path to success . . . each step you take, no matter how closely you try to follow the path of others, is going to be somehow different due to the individual experiences that you bring along. Knowing where you came from is a key to getting somewhere else – if you don’t acknowledge the history you’ve created, it’s likely the well-trodden path will feel your footfall again.
If you’re fearful of making the same mistakes a second time, without fully accepting and coming to know the ones already made, you won’t know what to avoid or what to chase. Every decision you’re making at any given time reflects the best knowledge that you bring to the situation. Be gentle with your past self and let the person you once were be the guide for who you’re going to be.
I know, that might sound like it goes against all of this but it doesn’t. Sometimes in our current state, we have to think things through and make decisions we think we will regret later. If you keep your present self as well as your future self in mind while making them, you’ll make better decisions. The past doesn’t matter, just the present and the future. Those are the things you have to look forward to. The past is something that cannot be changed so we should not be obsessing over it and letting it rule our lives.
Keep your future in mind as you move through life and try to live both in the moment and through a means that allows you to prepare for tomorrow on some level. Those who forget completely about tomorrow end up facing serious setbacks but if you keep tomorrow in mind on some level, you will go far. Things aren’t always what they seem.