How to Ensure a Steady Flow of Gifts to Your Future Self

Thanks to my wife, my kids have better homework habits than I had. They recently told me about how many kids in their class were “freaking out” about an upcoming summative test. “But we,” they explained, “are feeling pretty relaxed about it because we’ve simply been paying attention and grinding out the homework.”

I couldn’t resist tying this example to workplace performance.

“Wow,” I responded. “What a gift you’ve given to your future self!”

I continued: “Who do you think will have expended more total effort and endured more total stress at the end of the year: you or the kids who are freaking out right now?”

“Oh, them for sure, Dad!” they said. “We’re just grinding it out bit by bit each week, but they are putting hours of time and stress into this!”

In fact, I told them, many researchers have discovered that people spend 4-6 times the time, energy and resources on dealing with things they’ve neglected or procrastinated than they would have had they just taken care of the task in the first place.

Think about the implications of this principle for your work and life.

How much of the time and effort you’re expending on this day is a consequence of not having made smaller investments along the way?

Don’t rush past that question too fast. Imagine how this day might have been different had you regularly made investments in something, perhaps something boring, uncomfortable, tedious or challenging, along the way.

As I reflect on that question today, I think about an argument I recently had with someone I care about. The argument happened because of a lack of planning and poor communication. Between meetings and emails over the course of a few days, the argument probably took us two hours of total time. This doesn’t even take into account the poor sleep I got one night as I contemplated the details of the argument.

I wish I could go back in time and do more regular planning and communication to avoid the argument!

What regular investments of time and energy in your past might have relieved you of some or all your work today?

But wait…

You might find this line of thinking to be idealistic and impractical. Yes, of course, you say, I could have been regularly working toward a PhD in Economics, but who would have taken care of my kids when they were young and I was working to pay our bills? I had no additional time to invest in the future when I was trying to survive the present!

That’s real. Everyone has practical constraints and demands that prevent regular investments in the future. 

To address that, follow the lead of my friend Andy.

“I strive to be regular not rigid,” he says.

Rigidity is inflexible, less focused on outcomes, and perhaps neurotic.

Regularity is a commitment to delay gratification and keep putting in the work.

The fear of rigidity shouldn’t prevent falling in love with regularity.

To quote James Clear in Atomic Habits, “The only way to become excellent is to be endlessly fascinated by doing the same thing over and over. You have to fall in love with boredom.”

Think carefully about this.

What do you not want to spend 4-6x energy and effort dealing with in the future?

What delayed gratification do you desire in the future that might happen if you re-committed to being regular (not rigid)?

This could apply to:

• Health
• Finances
• Faith
• Relationships
• Work performance
• Career path
• Education

It’s time to recommit to regular investment along the way. 

As my friend Marla says, “’Tomorrow Marla’ is going to thank me for this!”

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