|
Be generous to the future
Wednesday, 28 September 2005
The future is like a giant spiritual bank account. You can invest in it, or withdraw from it any time you like. How you treat this bank account plays a big part in deciding how successful you are.
Almost every moment of every day you are deciding whether to invest in your future, or enjoy today at the expense of it. You can gorge yourself on cakes today, at the expense of being overweight tomorrow. You can watch television instead of studying for your finals, at the cost of failing and reducing your employability. You can start a petty argument with your partner to let off some steam right now, but don't be surprised if they resent you for it tomorrow. You can buy that new gadget on credit now, but you'll have to pay that money back with interest next month.
We are faced daily with such choices. Should we sacrifice today for a better tomorrow, or enjoy life while we've got it?
You can make a sound argument that it's better to enjoy ourselves now. The future is inherently risky. We could waste time and energy exercising today, only to be run over by a bus tomorrow. What we give up now is not guaranteed to be returned to us.
There's one good reason to choose otherwise, however. It's that if we're generous with our future, it is on average even more generous back to us.
Imagine if ten years ago you'd decided to save one-fifth of everything you earned and invested it in the stock market. Imagine if you'd been exercising and eating well every day for the past five years. Imagine if you'd done the work necessary to get that qualification you always wanted.
Today, you'd be enjoying the rewards. You would have had what you sacrificed, and much more returned to you.
It's true that not every investment you make in tomorrow will pay off. You may put a lot of work into something, only to see that work go up in smoke. You may put money into an investment that fails.
On average though, you will get ahead if you make a concerted effort to provide for your future. You'll lose some of your investment, but you'll gain much more than you give up in many cases.
Be generous to your future, and it will reward you in return.
 | Convince people to sell themselves to you | | What do you want from others? Love? Respect? Money? Fame? In many social relationships there is a component of power involved. I'm not saying this is a good thing, but it's a fact so you might as well deal with it. In many one-on-one interactions, you will notice that one person is more dominant than the other. One is calling the shots, while the other reacts. |  | The world hates the weak | | About a decade ago, I had a job at a government office. My work mates were the enlightened and knowledgeable types that you often meet in such places. Their political views were generally what's considered progressive and many of them were involved in charity work. |  | Make good attributes part of your identity | | We all have a picture of who we are inside our heads. Sure, you might be an accountant who lives in Miami, but it extends much further than this. | | Is it better to read fiction or non-fiction? | | One of the most popular articles I’ve written on this site so far has been Five excellent mind habits to develop. It’s been generally well received, but I have come in for some criticism for my belief that it’s a better mind habit to read non-fiction than fiction. | | Who your friends are will have a big influence on who you are | | Of all the influences on our thinking, our interactions with others is probably the most important one. Those who we talk to on a regular basis have a much larger authority over our perception and feelings than many imagine.
|  | A central component of long-term happiness | | What makes us happy? Many people would look at material thing - a good car, a big house, nice holidays. Others would say friends and family. These are all extremely important. | | A good way of punishing bad behaviour in others | | Most of us know the maxim that we should reward pleasing behaviour in others and punish the bad. But most people tend to do the punishment side completely wrongly. The thing is when it comes to that, many people underestimate how badly things will make the other person feel. | | Incompetent people tend to overestimate their skill level | | Something interesting happens to me whenever I try to learn a new skill. I tend to underestimate just how hard it's going to be. For some reason, part of me thinks I'm going to be naturally talented at it, even though I have no evidence for that being the case. |  | Learn how to prioritize | | Why do some people work hard yet achieve almost nothing, while others seem to get lots done with very little effort? The answer is to be found in prioritization skills. |  | How to give up smoking | | I smoked for seven years, averaging a packet a day. I was completely addicted to nicotine and the cigarette habit for a time. It's now been fourteen years since I last had a cigarette. Here's how I did it. |
New articles are being added all the time, so make sure you bookmark Paul's Tips and come back.
|
|