I’ve recently come to the conclusion that the actions I take now are not necessarily for me right now. They are for ‘Future Me.’ Right now I may not see the results of my actions but a future version of me will reap the rewards.
I think that’s why we give up sometimes. Not because we don’t want to keep going after our dreams or our desires, but because we think it’s not working. We think our actions now are not bearing fruit so what’s the point? If you don’t consider you in 3 years’ time or you in 5 years’ time or you in 10 years’ time, it will seem to you as though giving up is your only option. It’s not. You can consider future versions of you and ask yourself if you’re fine with them reaping the rewards of what you do now.
Delayed gratification is not something desirable in this microwave-fast world we now live in. Thank God for technology because I can wonder about something and ask Google and get an answer in seconds. I can email someone in another continent and they get it immediately. I love all that. The problem is that we’ve been conditioned to expect things to happen immediately after our input or our effort. Unfortunately that’s not how life works. When it comes to certain things, the results occur after a while. Not in seconds, minutes or days but after months and sometimes years. Much longer than we expect. Things like entrepreneurship, compound interest, long lasting relationships, among other things.
Commenting on whether or not you should start a business or do that thing that scares you, Vusi Thembekwayo had this to say: “It’s going to be much harder than you think. It’s going to take much longer than you think and you’re going to suffer much more than you expect but there will be nothing more worth it.” The question becomes, is that dream you’re pursuing worth it to you?
I remember watching an interview on YouTube where Ed Mylett was interviewing Andy Frisella on his podcast. Andy Frisella said it was 10 years into the business that he and his partner saw significant financial results. The other years, they were building the business. In his own words, Andy Frisella got zero pay the first 3 years. They worked other jobs to keep their business running. For 10 years he never made more than $695 a month. They even paid their employees more than they made, to support and grow their business. The 11th year he made $45 000, the 12th year he made $180 000 and then it went up. Now he’s a multimillionaire. The work of the different versions of himself over the 10 years where there were no results, is what has led to the current version of himself benefiting. What will future you benefit from what you do today? Will there be any benefits?
It’s actually more than just future you. How about your children, your grandchildren and generations to come from you? What if what you’re doing now determines their destiny? Whether or not you can appreciate that, it does. Whether for the better or for the worst. Let me share one of my future journal entries to give you an idea of what looking into the future 100 years from now can look like. Future journaling is journaling about the future as though it is already happening or has already happened, something I enjoy doing.
Future journaling for a hundred years from now
Journal entry of Char Matherson, great, great, great granddaughter of Sibo Hlabangana.
November 8, 2122
Thank you Lord for letting me wake up to see yet another wonderful awesome day! I’m grateful to be living a life I love. I’m excited because today I get to move into my very own beautiful fully furnished oceanfront apartment. I recently finished varsity and am now working on pursuing my dreams. I’ll be able to do that knowing I have my own home and without having to worry about rent or expenses or anything like that. Everything is covered by the trust that my great, great, grandparents Sibo and H left for us.
I’m so grateful to them because they left a trust fund that ensures that each descendant of theirs at 21 gets a certain amount of money, allowing them to buy their first home, fully paid for, with all costs covered. With that, for 5 years, we each get a monthly amount to cover our expenses. They did this so that we could each go after our dreams without ever having to worry about living expenses or anything like that. They said they wanted us to be able to do anything we desire and money not be an issue.
I already have a grand vision for my life. Even as I was at varsity, I was working on doing what I love. I’m seeing the results of that work now. I’m able to cover my expenses so the money coming from the trust is money that I’m investing. I started investing at a young age because it’s something that’s been ingrained into our family for generations. Sibo and H changed things around for our family and now each child is born into wealth and goes on to build even more of it.
I love what Sibo and H did and I want to do that and more for my children and generations to come.
Back to 2022
Her future is why I do what I do. I’m not only concerned about me, I’m concerned about my family 100 years from now and beyond. Not just financially, spiritually and every other way as well. What will your great, great, great, grandchildren thank you for?
