Don't Just Live In The Present

in OCD3 years ago

It's never too late to start working on the life you would want to live in the future.

If you have read any blog post or books about philosophy, you must have noticed that one common advise is to live in the present moment.

Don't hold your past. Don't worry too much about future. Enjoy your present.

Yet, everything we do, we do it to make our future better.

You brush your teeth daily to avoid cavities in the future. You pay your taxes to avoid fines and troubles with the law.

You invest money every month and every year to have a better life in the future.

A lot of what we do in our daily life is because we want to build a better future.

We Get Lost in The Way...

Most of us start as ambitious and energetic kids.

But the ups and downs of life kills ambition. It drains down the energy. And we are stuck in inertia.

We accept whatever we get.

Being an engineer, I look at things in terms of scientific concepts.

Inertia and momentum.

If you can create enough momentum in a direction, it's easier to continue.

If there is inertia in your life, you are stuck.

When I built momentum in my physical fitness, I used to work out daily, used to woke up early and go for running almost everyday.

Now, I am stuck in inertia. And I can't remember the last time I worked out or woke up early.

I am stuck in a phase.

Inertia and momentum works in all sorts of things. When I used to write, I would write daily. Now weeks go by, and I barely publish anything.

Breaking the Inertia state

Reading a number of books about building habits, I learned that it's best to start small, build momentum. If I want to build something for the long term, I have to build momentum.

Look at your current life and decide what you should stop doing and what changes you should make.

The question I often ask myself is, "Aren't you tired of living the same? Aren't you tired of breaking promises to yourself?"

Usually, I would start with one day. Or a small time frame to see how it feels.

Thinking about the future, making plans and big dreams about it does not help.

The promises you keep to yourself today is what will help you tomorrow. Not the big dreams and plans.

It takes five years to re-invent yourself.

If you start from today, it will be just five years down the line where you can become a completely different person. The person you always wanted to be.

But if you never break inertia, you won't become anything. You will remain the same.

If you don't build momentum, you won't achieve any meaningful results.

Building For Long Term

One of the quote that I keep revisiting is:

Most people overestimate what they can achieve in a year and underestimate what they can do in a decade. — Bill Gates

A decade is a long period of time. You won't be the same person after a decade.

You won't care about the same things. Your priorities will change.

You might want more stability in your life. Or maybe your life will be stable and you would want to spice things up by travelling more. Or writing more. Or becoming more creative in some way so that you will feel more alive.

Your current habits define your future self not your current dreams.

If you are bad with money now, you might live hand to mouth for the next 10 years.

But if you invest a small amount every month for 10 years, it will compound to a big sum. It will help you to become rich.

If you make your present self better, it will automatically make your future brighter.

Huge results often comes from small changes. Small habits. So, my current self should make decisions and have habits that will be helpful for my future self.

Build Momentum.png

What can I do today to make more progress in the future?

Make Everyday More Meaningful

Instead of running towards productivity, I seek meaning in the small work I do.

What will happen if you try to live a meaningful life everyday?

Productivity means not to just manage your time well but to produce something meaningful. If you don't have any meaningful outcome, you are not productive. You are just busy.

Meaningful work comes from not counting the amount of time you spend on a task but to be so lost in the task that you lose track of time.

You focus like a ninja. It feels amazing, as if there is nothing better to do on this planet.

  • Focus on one particular important task
  • Break complicated tasks into small crumbs of achievable goals
  • Build momentum

Optimize your life today so that you enjoy what you achieve in the future.

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Itne dino bad saw your post. Acha laga

Thanks man! Hope you are doing fine😀