Nataliey Bitature explores how focusing on the past, present, or future shapes your behavior and wellbeing. She recommends daily reflection, setting both short and long-term goals, and taking small actions today that benefit your future self.
Long term mindset. So I was reading this book about being past, present and future oriented. Everybody has an inclination. Some people are past oriented. So they spend a lot of their day thinking about stuff that's already happened, whether it was years ago or it was yesterday. They're always repeating stuff over and over about how it went, how I could have improved it. This was a nice time. This was what we really used to like. This was wonderful. This was really bad. But was it? But it takes a lot of their time and energy. Then there are people who are very present oriented. They're only thinking about the now. They're not thinking about what used to happen and they're not thinking about what could happen. So present oriented people are more action oriented and do a lot more things in real life. But they're also very hedonistic. So they tend to party more or drink more or enjoy life more to the point where it can also become detrimental. Then there is future oriented people. Future oriented people are always thinking about what is going to happen. How can I do better? Let me plan for this. The advantage of this is they are way more organized. But the disadvantage is they don't enjoy the moment. Future oriented people will be at the peak of something. It's a celebration or they're winning an award and they're not even enjoying it and smiling and feeling it because they're thinking, okay, now I've done this, how do I get to the next level? How do I do the next thing? So the book was talking about the right combination that you can sort of push in yourself because everyone has their natural inclination. Are you future oriented, are you present oriented or are you past oriented? But the most successful people are very future oriented but significantly present minded. So they're able to do things now and today. These are the goals I need to do, these are the tasks I need to get done. This is what needs to happen. But they're thinking about this needs to happen because this will happen in the future if I do it now. It's good to have a bit of past orientation because that's how you reflect and you improve. So a lot of self development gurus say you should reflect twice a day in the morning and at night. So at night you have to think about what went well in the day, what didn't go well in the day, what was I able to achieve, what am I grateful for and how can I do better tomorrow. And then in the morning you set all your tasks for the day. I want to get this, this and this done because My three month plan is to have this kind of goal achieved. So it's useful to have all three of the different orientations in your everyday life and see how you can push yourself to snap out of, oh, last night was so much fun. Or remember when we were teenagers and we used to do this all the time? Or beating yourself up about it. People who are past oriented have a lot more anxiety than the other two types because they're constantly replaying scenes and situations and reliving moments and going through the emotions of those moments. So it's very distracting and can be very draining if you're constantly replaying, I did this wrong, why did I say that in the meeting? Oh my goodness, how could this happen? You need to be able to bring your attention to the present and present oriented people need to make some effort to think about their future to be more long term minded. Think, where am I going? People really underestimate what they can achieve in 10 years, but they overestimate what they can do in one year. So you need to be able to find a balance and look at yourself, reflect and say, I'm this kind of a person historically, this is what I've been able to do. And then plan for it future wise, think, how can I use this to my advantage to plan for my future and use your present mindedness to act on it now, don't say, in six months I'll start going to the gym. What can I do now? Can I take the stairs in the next five minutes instead of taking the lift? Can I drink water right now? Can I eat a salad instead of the burger? What can I do now to help future me? These are the different ways you can think about how you think about time and it can really improve your life. How much is that.
