7 Hard Choices your Future Self Will be Thankful you Made Today

“The choices you make builds your character, and your characters builds the choices you make. Which in turn decides the outcome of your future.” John C. Maxwell.

You need to get to a stage in life where at every point in time, you should ask ourselves questions like,

“Is what I’m doing now impacting my future in a positive way?”

“Are the life choices I’m making now going to help my future self in the nearest future”

“Will my future self be proud of what I’m doing now?”

These questions are powerful and you need to start using them to re-evaluate the choices you make everyday.

I don’t know what life choices you’re making right now. Some of them may be important. Some unimportant. But whatever those choices are, whether good or bad, they’re the very ones that will mold who you become in the future.

That means, there is a need to make right choices. Ones that’ll transform you into a purposeful person in the future. And especially life choices that will affect your future self positively.

I’ve picked 7 of those choices I know your future self would be thankful you choose to start making today.

And they’re:

1. Choose to Train the Raw Talents you have now to Maturity –

I was discussing with a friend of recent and she was complaining about how things were hard for her and her family. She’s married with a kid. Her husband during that period was without work. After she was through telling me her many problems that she thought she had no solution to. I asked her one question:

“Why are you not putting your writing talent to use?”, “Why don’t you believe your writing talent can be used to change the lives of your family?”

Immediately she heard the word “writing” she frowned and told me she has been trying to write, but each time she tries to, she ends up feeling uncomfortable. She further went on to add that whenever she feels that way she’d instantly drops the pen and find something else to do.

I was a little bit amused when I heard that. And when I opened my mouth again to speak, my favorite quote dropped from my mouth:

“If you wait for perfect conditions, you’ll never get anything done.”

I told her she doesn’t need to feel comfortable to write. That every time we work at our talent we’re simply exercising new muscles and touching places we haven’t touched before. And feeling uncomfortable is the body way of responding to such exercise.

I went further to explain that raw talent aren’t selling anymore. They are unpredictable and unproductive. They aren’t reliable and that’s why people don’t pay attention to those with raw talents. The only talents that are marketable are ones the owners have taken out time to work on.

When she heard all these things, she made up her mind to write regardless of the discomfort that came with it.

And she’s still writing till date.

In essence, what I’m saying is — You will be left behind and trampled upon if you don’t work on your talents when others are working on theirs.

So if you have a music talent, train it by working at it. If you have a drawing skill, don’t just talk about it, go out there and train that skill. Whatever that talent of yours is, it won’t bring real profit if you don’t work on it.

The whole wide world gives attention to people with exceptional skills. People who have successfully trained their individual talents into formidable skills.

Albert Einstein worked on his science talents. Michelangelo worked on his art talents. Every great man worked on theirs.

Be like them. Work on yours too.

Be that individual the world will respect because you decided to work on your talent. Let your life be a life of working at your craft. Work at it when others are sleeping, work out that craft while others are waking up, work it out when others are watching TV, keeping working at it while others are busy chit-chatting on social media.

Let your whole life evolve around working at your talent and turning it into a formidable skill. Because working at your talent is one thing your future self will be thankful you started doing from today.

And remember, whatever that talent is, if you decide to work it into a skill, then it’s probably will be the one skill that’ll change your life’s story — financially, materially and impact-fully.

2. Choose to pick yourself Back Up from Depression –

A great man once said, “Those that are depressed aren’t seeing the future.” And I can’t agree more. Depression is a psychological nuisance. You can overpower it.

Many years ago I used to fall in out of depression. It became a hobby. My family and friends were worried. Nobody knew what was wrong with me.

I didn’t know either.

But one day, tired and angry at my present state, I started asking myself,

“Is this how I’m going to be remembered?

“Is this how I would end up not accomplishing my life’s purpose?”

“What would happen to the people my purpose in life is going to help?”

That day many thoughts flew across my mind and right there, I made up my mind that I wasn’t going to let depression ruin my life.

I forcefully came out of that depression and vowed never to return to it.

That decision wasn’t easy. Depression came many a time but I kept on fighting it. Why was I fighting it?

It was because the future I see whenever I closed my eyes is great. I saw a lot of lives changed as a result of me accomplishing my life’s purpose. Not only that, I saw my wife and children happy and having everything that life could offer.

They looked happy. And I saw myself looking healthy and happy too.

But when I looked at my present depressed self, I knew the person I was looking at wasn’t going to arrive at the future I see each time I close my eyes. That person was probably going to end up a useless and worthless outcast in the future.

When I had that realization, I made up my mind to come out of depression.

You too can do it. Depression isn’t the final route. There is still more to life than being in self pity and self denial. These two don’t pay the bill anymore.

Choose to come out of depression today for the sake of your future. Choose to leap out of it today for the sake of those your life story will impact and influence positively.

Remember, the world stands aside for those who think they know where they’re going. Start today to find your way.

3. Choose to be positive in a negative world –

Like I said in point 2, I got tired of depression and I overcame it. But how did I do it? I came out of it by speaking positive words.

The truth is, our mouth wasn’t created for eating and talking alone. One of the profound function of the mouth is it can be used to mold your future. Because as a man thinks and speaks, so is he. How you’ll end up in the future will solely be determined by the qualities of your words.

Now let me explain the reason I was wallowing in depression during that period. It because I was always speaking negative words to myself. And as a result of that, negative things and situations started happening to me.

I became this lazy and bitter stricken person. When I saw what I was becoming, I knew I had to stop saying negative stuffs. And immediately I switched gears and started speaking positive words.

Depression left me.

I can still remember how during that period, I’d walk around my house declaring loudly to myself. “I cannot be depressed.” “Great men with great future like me don’t get depressed” “Depression cannot hold me down.”

“I’m a conqueror, and I’ll overcome you depression.” “There are a lot of lives my own life will touch in the future and depression won’t stop me from making that come to pass.”

I kept on saying it. I kept on speaking positive words.

Every morning I wake up I spoke positive words. Every evening I close from work I spoke positive words. In the midnight when I wake up to pee, I still kept on speaking those words.

Why? Why go through all these trouble?

It’s because I saw a future ahead and I wasn’t going to let depression ruin it.

Depression gave up on me when I persistently kept on saying those positive words.

You too can give positive words a try today. It’s works. Where you’re now is a result of the quality of your words 6 months ago. You may be struggling and going through a serious rough patch presently.

And probably nothing makes sense now. That is when you switch to positive words.

Start today and speak positivity to everything that isn’t working in your life. Don’t join people to complain about unnecessary things they complain about. Instead see and speak the beauty in everything.

As you start to do this, you’d simply be paving a good future for your future self. And (s) he’d be thankful you did.

4.Choose to Forgive and Forget –

In a recent study, I found out that purpose driven people don’t have time to carry grudges. They see it like work. Because grudges are literally load you carry each time you “DECIDE” not to forgive someone or let go of something.

And the funny thing is: Your Purpose in life is a load too. So why carry two loads when you actually know one can impede you and the other is paramount on the road to success?

So I’d advice you to LEARN to forgive and forget. People who can’t forgive end up becoming bitter people everybody hates. Don’t choose to become that person. Choose to follow after forgiveness as your motto in life. Because your future self will be thankful you did.

5.Choose to take the risk of believing in your purpose –

Yes, I know your purpose now looks stupid and very small to you. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t real.

You need to stop listening to critics or looking for peoples’ approval.

You are not the first to be laughed at. Every great man has been laughed to scorn at one period or another. Shut yourself from their criticism. What they say isn’t the final. What you decide is what happens to you in life.

So stop belittling your purpose in life. Be proud of it. No purpose shines at the start, their glorious light are only seen at the end of the tunnel. And only those who walk through the awful zigzagged road will see the light.

So starting today, choose to believe in that life purpose of yours. It may not look like it now. But it will if you give it more time, the beauty will come out.

Whatever that purpose of yours is, be it a singing, writing, running — whatsoever it is, don’t give up on it. Believe it because that’s what will announce you to your world. And also what your future self will proudly become if you choose it.

6. Choose to Live a Life of Impact from where you are –

You can’t postpone impacting others life to the nearest future when you have money, fame and everything else that life can offer. You can start now to impact those lives.

I was discussing about a novel another writer friend of mine was writing.

“KC, I’ve stopped writing. I don’t know how that happened, but I have an inking it might be writer’s block because I’ve been unable to write for the past 3 weeks“.

I tried to encourage her and throw in some positive words I knew could help. In fact, I did all I can do to make sure she continued writing.

But nothing worked.

That was when I knew she was not going to write anymore. She simply used writers’ block as an excuse to fail and was comfortable with that decision. After sometime, I decided that I was going to challenge her to start writing again by writing a novel.

Prior that time, I’ve never written a novel before. I don’t know how to write one and it was never in my present or future calendar to write one ever.

But because I needed to help a friend in need, I had to inconvenience myself to accomplish that. Immediately she heard me say that, she was moved beyond words. And I don’t know how that happened, but that writer’s block left her and she started writing again. She’ll be finishing her book in 2 months time.

You can try this out on anybody too. There is no need to wait for money or right conditions to present themselves before you become a blessing to someone else. You can start today to impact those lives.

You don’t have to be Bill Gates. Neither do you have to be the president of your country. All that it requires is that you become a person who’s after the well-being of others.

When you keep on doing this you’ll naturally become a happy and fulfilled human. And your future self will be thankful if you start today.

7. Choose to Overcome Laziness and Procrastination –

They’re simply nuisance that can impede you in the journey of life. The best way to overcome these 2 is to develop a daily ritual or routine. When you have specific things you do everyday to make each day a success, I tell you, laziness or procrastination won’t be a problem anymore.

It becomes an issue when you enter a day blind. Without plans, and with goals with no deadline.

Stick to a routine. It will save your future embarrassment. Learn to work when others work. Learn to work when others play.

Be the hardworking one when others are lazy and can’t seem to get nothing done.

When you keep on working, instead of being lazy and procrastinating every little work you have at hand, you’d find yourself in the better place in life. A life your future self will be proud to own.

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Originally published at www.tobyandkc.com on November 24, 2015.