162: Don't give it all to your future self

Today we’re diving into how you can be kinder to your future self and how you can stop placing all the burdens on future you!

Episode transcript:

Good morning, Daily Peppers, and a very happy Thursday to you. If you need some encouragement, if you need some general rebel rising, and if you need just to be reminded that there are many things that you can do with your one wild and precious life, then you are definitely in the right place, my dear. So back on episode 88 of the Daily Pet, we really started diving into this idea of your future self. And that episode was all about what can you do today that your future self will be grateful for? And it's taken from a quote I had on the calendar several years ago. And I've cut it out and it remains on my office wall. And it's something that really drives me. But today we're going to look at it from a slightly different angle. I think it's fair to say that we give our future selves a lot to do.

We put all of the creative plans that we're not quite ready for onto our future selves. We put all the tasks that we didn't get round to onto our future selves. We put a lot of our dreams and a lot of our ambitions onto our future selves. And actually, I don't think it takes that much for our future selves to be really burdened. What really got me thinking about this was a quote I found by Tim Urban. So you might know Tim Urban if you've seen his TED talk called Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator. And if you haven't, that's a brilliant one. I'll put the link in the show notes.

And that's what this is about, really. It's about procrastination. So Tim writes, I've banked on future Tim's real world existence for my most important plans. But every time I finally arrive at a time when I thought I would find future Tim and he was nowhere to be found. And that's the thing that really sucks about future you. Whenever time finally gets to future Tim, he's not future you anymore. He's the present you. And the present you can't do the task you assigned to future you.

So you do what you always do. You redelegate them to future you, hoping that next time time catches up with future you, he actually exists. And that just really got me thinking. And one of the things that got me thinking was, let's actually be a bit fucking kinder to our future selves by doing more of the things now. It's not just about avoiding procrastination. It's not just about putting things off because they feel like there'll be a better time in the future. It's actually much kinder and a much more compassionate way to treat yourself if you don't burden your future self with all that stuff. Maybe it's about taking some things off your plate.

Maybe it's about making a plan and sticking to them. And maybe it's looking at what small step you could do today that would get you slightly further along. Because that way, when you do catch up with future you, you might be pleasantly surprised instead of disappointed. So that is my food for thought for you today. Here's to not burdening our future selves. Here's to taking things off our plates, or off the plate of our future selves if we need to. And here's to know that someday isn't some magical world where it will have already been done, and that there are things that you can start doing no matter how tiny Today, if you're curious about the things that I've been reading I've been watching that speak to me and ways that I'm creating my own wholehearted life and things that are helping on that journey, make sure you sign up to my Sunday emails where I share the more vulnerable and personal stuff that I just don't share anywhere else. You can sign up to them by going to thathomingbirdlife.com and clicking on emails or just going to the link in the show notes.

I hope you have a good day and try to do just one thing today that your future self will be really fucking grateful for. See you tomorrow.

Episode transcript automatically produced by Castmagic.io

ABOUT THE DAILY PEP! PODCAST

A short, snappy and sassy daily podcast to keep your internal - and external - dreamshitters at bay!

The Daily Pep! is the rebel-rousing, daily podcast for couragemakers, creative, multi-passionate and unconventional women.

If you’re surrounded by people who don’t get who you are or what you do, if you want reminders you’re on the right path (no matter how scary it feels), or you’re sick of being your very own worst enemy, this is the podcast for you.

Every weekday, your host - writer, coach and professional rebel-rouser - Meg Kissack helps you build a creative and wholehearted life, one day at a time. Through short and snappy insights, reminders and stories, The Daily Pep! is here to remind you you’re not alone, and that everything changes when you believe you matter. Each episode is short and snappy, designed to fit in with (or help you start) your habits and routines

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