Recently, I’ve been thinking about how I can create little gifts for my future self.
I know that might sound strange, so let me explain…
Are you ever struck by a great idea or thought…but now isn’t the right time to write it down or play with it, so you convince yourself that you will remember it and come back to it another time?
Do you ever take a lot of photos and tell yourself you’ll come back to them at some point?
Have you ever found a song that really resonates with you…or a recommendation for a book or product or service…and instead of looking into it right now, you make a flimsy mental note to return to it later?
In the moment of creating a new account with some service or software, do you assure yourself that you’ll remember the username and password no problem?
You see, present me overestimates how often future me is going to remember and make use of the things that inspire me in the moment.
That idea goes forgotten…those photos go untouched…that recommendation gets lost…that clever password, well, I don’t know why I ever thought I’d be able to remember it in the first place!
I have great intentions of returning to things, making time for things, remembering things. But often, if I don’t engage with them right away, I don’t actually come back to them.
So, on reflecting on this habit of letting this fall through the cracks, I'm experimenting with a shift in mindset. Instead of telling myself I'm too busy or too tired or too [fill in the blank] to address something right now, what if I saw this as giving future me a gift?
I know that future me would love to see an organized album of those pictures I took on my weekend trip. I know future me would be delighted by a customized playlist.
Future me would DEFINITELY appreciate a better system for securely storing my usernames and passwords so I’m not stuck spending loads of time having to search and eventually reset my account information every time I’m trying to log in to something.
Instead of one more thing on my to-do list, instead of a nuisance in my present day, this gift-giving mindset helps me to be proactive with little choices that ultimately help me out in the long run.
What gifts could you give to future you?
Maybe it’s a clean house in preparation for the week ahead.
Perhaps it’s meal prepping for the week so future you doesn’t have to stress about what to eat.
Maybe today you can make that phone call you’ve been putting off so that future you doesn’t have to worry about it.
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