Plan for Tomorrow. Or Live Today.
There are two schools of thought. One suggests that you should always play the long game. Have a grand vision and then work towards it. The other advocates living in the moment because the future is uncertain.
There is some truth to both. The future is indeed uncertain; it always has been. The job you were so happy about, the one you took that mortgage for, can disappear overnight. The business you thought would change your life can be rendered obsolete by a software update from a tech company. Everything you once thought was irreplaceable can be replaced.
In such an environment, what vision can survive? Common sense suggests that it is better to live in the present. Make choices that are relevant to your immediate future, at best. Take it one day, one week at a time instead of planning years in advance.
The biggest risk of living in the present, however, is that you miss out on the opportunities available to you. Every uncertainty also brings opportunities that can dramatically change your future. If you are not trained to recognise them, it is easy to let them pass you by. Ask an investor. They spend years learning to identify such opportunities because they understand how rewarding it can be.
There are trade-offs at both ends. The underlying conflict is this: you don’t want to miss out on your golden years, which will never return, for the sake of a future that is inherently uncertain. This makes you wonder whether you should even bother making all the sacrifices for a house that has become unaffordable, for a partner who might rip you off or cheat on you, or for a company that might not think twice before replacing you with a bot.
The present is the only time over which we have any control. Whether you choose to indulge in pleasure or plan for your future, today, right now, is all you have. If these moments begin to feel like nothing but sacrifice, the future loses its relevance. It doesn’t matter whether that future is certain or not; you will have lost the vitality to enjoy it.
There is truth on both sides. Without a long-term vision, you risk feeling lost and becoming hopeless. But a vision that requires you to sacrifice every little piece of happiness isn’t worth pursuing, because it is equally true that the future is uncertain. It is better to treat your vision as a reference point, a sense of direction that tells you where you are headed. The present moments are the roads you choose to take to get there.
And there is no harm in stopping at a few points along the way to enjoy the view once in a while. After all, isn’t the whole point of life to enjoy the journey?