Small actions today can reduce stress, improve efficiency, and make life easier for your future self.
Sitting on the corner of my desk is a sticker that says, “Do something today that your future self will thank you for.” Every time I see it, I imagine a world where present-me has done something monumental for future-me. Will it be maxing out my 401(k) so 76-year-old me is traveling the world? Or hitting those 10,000 steps a day so 80-year-old me is limber? Maybe it’s all the kale I eat – hopefully, that finally pays off.
I’ve been thinking about how future-me can benefit from the small things I do, due to my obsession with the concept of the 1 percent incremental improvement from Atomic Habits. Are there baby steps I can take now that my future self will appreciate? And, is that future-me only decades away?
When I asked my friends on LinkedIn to share the things they do for their future selves, I learned a few things. One, my friends are very clever and creative. Two, the things they do often help them just days (or hours) in the future and fall into a few categories:
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Reduce decision fatigue. We’ve all heard the stories of tech whizzes like Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs who employ a work uniform – pretty much copies of the same outfit every day. Turns out President Obama had a similar philosophy – either blue or gray suits (except for that one tan suit that caused a ruckus).
These decisions aren’t just about opting out of fashion choices. Every day, our brain makes countless decisions. Various studies have looked at the relationship between the number of decisions you make and the quality of those decisions. In the medical field, studies have observed that surgeons were less likely to recommend surgery to patients they saw at the end of the day versus the start. Some have theorized that after all the minute decisions, these doctors had reached a cognitive and emotional threshold that made making decisions harder – so they would push off recommending treatment.
Many of my friends suggested removing the less important decisions at the start of the day to make space for the big ones. Their ideas included picking out clothes the night before and mapping out meals for the week. Basically, keep as many things as “brainless” as possible. -
Time nearsightedness. Several friends commented on the things they had done the night before to make mornings easier. For me, it’s always getting gas the night before if my car is running low. Too many times I’ve thought, “Oh, I’ll grab it in the morning,” and inevitably that’s the day I’m running late and see that I don’t even have enough gas to make it to work. My friend Rachel said she always makes lunches the night before, for her and her kids. The chaos of the morning is minimized by this small act.
Even if your mornings are not chaotic, this concept relies on a bigger idea of time nearsightedness. I use the term time nearsighted (or myopia) versus time blindness because for many of us, it isn’t that we have no sense of time. We may not always be able to gauge how long a task will take in various conditions. It’s like my actual visual myopia. I can see, just not clearly when things are far away.
For example, in my head, I think getting gas will take about five minutes – just roll up to an empty gas pump and go. However, that’s based on a scenario of an empty gas station with little traffic. A more realistic morning may entail waiting at the pump and more cars on the road in the morning on the way to the station, which could bump gas time to more like 20 minutes. Rachel commented that making lunches the night before takes five minutes versus 20 minutes in the morning. She’s not exaggerating, because mornings may also include helping those children with their day preventing uninterrupted sandwich making time. For those of us who are always running late to meetings, we need to embrace the reality of worst-case scenario time. Trust me, the days of making it across town in 30 minutes are over! -
Rewriting the script in your head. Somehow, I make these rules that certain things must happen at a certain time, which causes me so many headaches. I was inspired by Liz, who talked about her nighttime skincare routine that she does right after dinner versus immediately before bed. Just because something needs to be done by a certain time doesn’t mean it needs to be done at a certain time. My friend Sarah uses a similar concept in her home: each person does their laundry on a specific weekday, which frees up their weekends. Needing clothes by Monday doesn’t mean laundry has to done on Sunday.
I have a monthly expense report that typically involves me gathering all the expenses on the 30th. Using this script change, I started a running entry in real time which snap shots after every expense, making the final days of the month much less hectic. And I don’t miss those random email receipts. -
Ask the magic question. Kendra Adachi, the author of The Lazy Genius Way, coined the “magic question,” which revolves around the phrase, “What’s something I can do now that will make this easier later?” I started looking at this in my own world, thinking about one small action I can do to make something easier later. For example, over the holidays we adopted a rescue puppy (Hazel). During the first days of acclimation, she had a few bathroom accidents. I realized that I could pre-fill the tank of the steam cleaner so it would be ready when needed. It’s a very small action, but when we need to use the green machine, future-me was so happy to have the tank ready to roll.
This same “magic question” could be used at work. What can I do now to make this networking event easier? Answers include looking over the attendee list, packing my name badge, or replenishing my stack of business cards. My friend Andrew uses this technique for his in-office days – he pre-packs his security badge.
My friend Necia’s husband showcases the “magic question” for her by washing out her teapot and placing an empty bowl, spoon, and napkin to make her 4 a.m. morning routine smoother. Turns out his future self always wants his wife to know she is loved! My own husband makes a cup of coffee for me – waiting as I run out the door.
Think of these small acts like a little gift you’re giving to someone special – you! Whether it’s reducing decision fatigue by planning, overcoming time nearsightedness by preparing for the unexpected, rewriting the script in our heads to tackle tasks earlier, or asking the magic question to simplify, these incremental improvements can make our lives easier. When the world pushes us to be productive and efficient robots, it’s helpful to remember that our future selves may not always have it together. We can gift ourselves grace by taking one thing off their proverbial plate.
Janki DePalma, LEED AP, CPSM is director of business development at W.E. O’Neil. Contact her at jdepalma@weoneil.com.
