You have two choices in life:

Focus your time and effort on dismantling the past.

Focus your time and effort on building the future.

Here’s the truth — Your Present Self is suffering because you’re focusing too much on your Past Self.

➡️Trying to understand why your girlfriend in high school cheated on you with your best friend.

➡️Trying to decode why you’re so anxious in social settings.

➡️Trying to dismantle the thought processes you were raised with.

You fall short when you focus on your Past Self but exceed expectations when you focus on your Future Self.

Here’s how I came to realize that…

🎨I remember this vividly, so let me paint a picture for you.🎨

It’s 9 o’clock at night and I’m sitting in a round, teal lounge chair in my childhood bedroom with a math textbook to my right and a lined notebook on my lap.

The only light on in my room is a lamp shining upon my textbook like I was prepping for an interrogation, instead of an Algebra test.

After completing the required problems for homework (which, by the way, took me 2 hours), I stared down at the suggested problems that could be solved for additional practice.

The only thing worse to me than solving math equations was solving extra math equations.

I stared off into space and started to daydream about Future Jade.

What did she look like? How did she act? What was important to her? What college did she go to? What did she major in?

All these questions and more ran through my head but the loudest question left me wondering…

…Would Future Jade want me to do these additional math problems?

This was the first day I conceptualized Future Jade.

The moment I began to conceptualize Future Jade was the moment I began to push myself beyond my limits. Not for Present Jade. Oh no, Present Jade did not want to do more math problems.

But Future Jade would benefit from it, right?

I decided that yes indeed, Future Jade, (the one taking the math test) would definitely benefit from Present Jade practicing more math problems.

So it was settled.

I would now do everything in life with Future Jade in mind.

Constantly trying to understand your Past Self chains your Present Self to the hardships and sufferings that have long expired.

❗Learning how to conceptualize your Future Self and understand how the actions of your Present Self impact your Future Self sets you free.❗

✅Now, every habit you maintain today has a purpose: the purpose to help your Future Self succeed.

✅When you push your Present Self beyond limits, your Future Self’s threshold rises.

✅When you live today by focusing on your Future Self rather than your Past Self you make tangible progress forward instead of being stuck in the past.

Craft your present with an eye on the future, not with a gaze on the past.