Who is your future self? It’s easy to imagine them as a different person than you. You might have a clear picture of who you want to become. Or think you do.
Either way, the classic interview question haunts you: Where do you see yourself in five years? Are you rich? Hardworking? Do you have your life together?
Many of us would answer “yes.” Though our current lives as college students are a bit of a mess — awful sleep schedules, tall laundry piles and the occasional brutal hangover — our future lives are pristine. Neat. As precise as a Swiss clock.
Some psychologists would beg to differ. As it turns out, we find it more difficult to change as we age. The habits we form in our 20s might just stay with us forever. Then, viewing our future selves as more disciplined than our current selves is not always productive — or realistic.
Sorry to break it to you, but there’s a good chance you have an overly optimistic view of what your life will look like after college. You hold great expectations for the big stuff — your big-shot Wall Street job, your custom sports car, your huge open-concept home — but also the small stuff. Your neatly pressed suit. Your snazzy haircut. But what makes you think you’ll be more on top of your laundry in ten years?
It’s important to realize that we are our past selves’ future selves. (Say that three times fast.) It seems obvious, silly to spell out, but you’ll grow up one day. You’ll fill the shoes of that “future self” you are now imagining.
As simple as this sounds, it’s not always easy to grasp. Our future is ambiguous. We are illusioned to believe that everything will turn out okay. Everything has so far — why shouldn’t it?
But think back to what you thought your college life would be like when you were in high school. Weren’t your classes easy? Your outfits fashionable? Didn’t you spend your days studying on the grass?
Did I just burst your bubble? I apologize, but it’s important. And it’s relevant both in the short and long term.
Spring break was just here. Leading up to this long-awaited rest, I heard so many students promise themselves that they would “lock in” during the break. Whether they were planning to tackle homework or study for an upcoming midterm, they sounded happy to loosen the pressure on the days leading up to the break. Play now, work later.
I took the opposite approach. Knowing I wouldn’t want to do more than a couple hours’ worth of review every day while at Lake Lanier, Georgia with my rowing team, I buckled up and worked hard leading up to the break. I knocked out review problems, reworked problem sets and went through lecture slides for an upcoming midterm. It wasn’t easy. Seeing everyone enjoy the start of the break, I couldn’t help but feel left out.
But it was worth it. The satisfaction was twofold. First, I was glad I could now ease the pressure and only do minimal work at the lake. I am already savoring the well-earned rest. Secondly, I felt fulfilled by what my prioritizing work while postponing play said about me.
What I’ve found over the years is that this type of satisfaction never fails to deliver.
Think of a time when you’ve started an assignment way earlier than you had to. The same day it was assigned, even. Think of how you felt the night it was due, when all you had to do was fish out the file, upload, submit and watch the Canvas confetti rain down. Wasn’t it nice?
There are other things, too. I’ve always been a fan of keeping my inbox neat. I organize all my archived emails into folders and delete the rest. But only recently did I start to appreciate how powerful unsubscribing from email lists could be. I hadn’t realized how much mental space unwanted emails were taking. By unsubscribing, we can alleviate our future selves of the burden of having to deal with a full inbox.
I’ve already shared some examples of how you can make life easier for “next-week you,” such as tackling assignments early or not leaving doing laundry until Sunday night. But you could also view this within a shorter time horizon. You could go to bed early tonight and remember to plug in your laptop so “tomorrow you” might have a better start to their day.
Admittedly, it is easy to take front-loading too far. At the end of this, my sophomore year, I’ll be done with my Economics major but for one elective. I frontloaded the difficult core classes such that I might have a peaceful last couple of years at Duke. But maybe, I made my life more difficult than necessary the past two years. I could have left some for later.
But the fact still stands. It takes grit to go against our evolutionary grain. Defying procrastination, doing favors for our future selves, can be one of the most fulfilling acts of self care.
On a bad day, these small favors keep us going. Throughout the week, they keep showing up as little nuggets of surprise, and they’re always welcome. I hate doing laundry even on a good day.
In fact, the best thing is to get into a routine of front-loading tasks we want to put off before we can even ponder putting them off. Do your laundry on a random Tuesday just because you woke up 40 minutes earlier than you had to. Your body won’t even register the effort.
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And after a while, this will start feeling like routine. Being on top of things will become second nature. This is important: life is harder if you don’t. It’s easier to get ahead than have to catch up after you’re behind.
The biggest favor you can do for your future self is to stop thinking of them as a different person. They’re you, just a little older. They’ll have the same pressures and desires as you do right now, and it won’t get any easier.
I am now the “future self” I was imagining four days ago when I decided to keep working through the weekend. In a couple of hours, we’ll leave for the lake. I can now reap the fruits of my labor.
But I’m someone else at the same time. I’m my future self’s past self — and I’m still looking out for her. Future Anna will come back to her dorm room at the end of this week and find her room clean and her laundry done. She won’t have to deal with that on Sunday night.
Anna Garziera is a Trinity sophomore. Her pieces typically run on alternate Sundays.