“24 hours. 1,440 minutes. 86,400 seconds. Our today starts now.”
It’s hard to be in a position when every task of yours is all jumbled in your head, and you don’t even know where to begin. But sometimes, what’s even harder is that you have your to-do list right in front of you, but you don’t have the motivation to do any of it. And this can push us to just stop trying at all and pass it to our tomorrow self. In his book ‘Holistically Fit’, author Jose Villablanca talks about how most of the time, we try to fool ourselves that we will do better tomorrow and then choose to indulge today. He eventually slaps the readers with the reality that “tomorrow never comes!”
There are a lot of factors that can cause us to put things off until tomorrow, but Villablanca presents one reality supported by some studies: people justify their poor choices because they think they can make it up later. But he gives a tip on how to combat this. The next time you find yourself with an excuse to put things off for tomorrow, ask yourself this question: “Do I really want the consequences of building this bad habit or making this wrong decision for the next year or two?”
Another tip given by Villablanca is to focus on your goals and values instead of giving yourself praise for all the good work you’ve done by staying away from temptations and distractions. This is because we are more likely to “reward" ourselves by being disciplined for the longest time.
We have become so acquainted with our tomorrow self and all the responsibilities that we have passed on to it. Aren’t you being too hard on your tomorrow self without realizing that your present self should share your responsibilities too? What’s more, your tomorrow self can possibly be a mirage that you can never be acquainted with. Are you ready to accept that reality?
“Time’s up. I hope you were able to do everything that you need to do today because that’s all you’re ever going to have.”
Yours truly,
Your Present Self
Blog by Elle Aboga