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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.
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