Your Future Self Deserves It
Day 55 - 61 / 1000
Most of us are running someone else’s race.
We chase money we wouldn’t actually earn.
We polish work no one will notice.
We forget what brought us joy in the first place.
This week is about coming back to yourself. And building the life your future self will actually thank you for.
Here is what has been on my mind this week:
Joy
Perfectionism
The one on money
The work begins within
There are days
Reminders for life
Your future self deserves it
1. Joy
When was the last time you did something purely because it brought you joy?
Do what brings you joy.
Our minds and souls are trying to navigate us every day toward the right decisions.
But because we became numbed by constant dopamine and attention-stealing surroundings, we almost can’t hear our daily intuition anymore.
We often become trapped in cycles of daily life, without much thinking and without joy.
Wake up, go to work, come back, go to sleep, repeat.
Most of us live like that. It’s nothing unusual.
But let me ask you this: when was the last time you did something purely because it brought you joy?
No transaction or exchange for something else. Just pure joy that filled your heart and soul.
Do you even remember what makes you joyous?
In a career- and success-driven world, we often put our inner child behind us.
We forget how it feels to play.
I believe that one of the most impactful things in your life is joy and play.
We connect to others, but also to ourselves, through these moments.
These moments make us feel complete.
I guarantee you that if you start looking for these moments, you will rediscover a part of yourself that you didn’t know still exists.
Isn’t it what we all want in life? To be more joyous?
I believe it is.
Go and have fun again.
Life is short, and none of us knows when it ends.
2. Perfectionism
Are you aiming for perfection or for getting things done?
If there were one thing I have struggled with the most so far, it would be perfectionism.
I believed for a very long time that this part of me, which is always trying to bring things to the best possible outcome, was my advantage.
I just had a different touch for things. I would always find small details that could be different to make the final output better.
But was it really better? Was it really necessary to spend all that extra time perfecting something that only I would notice?
Maybe, sometimes.
But when you have an important task to finish, one that other steps in the process depend on, it can be quite unproductive to try to endlessly perfect things.
I would get stuck in the process so many times. Endlessly iterating over one document.
What happened when AI came into our daily lives?
My perfectionism kicked in even more.
Now I didn’t need to rely only on my thoughts because I had this machine that could iterate on my best work even more.
It’s a devil’s loop.
It keeps you stuck on things that need half the time you give them.
So how do you deal with perfectionism?
How do you stop being a slave to the process and deliver actual outputs?
One way is to set the bar of expectations lower.
Not every piece of work you produce needs to be perfect.
Unless you are a doctor or someone responsible for other people’s lives, or your own life depends on it.
In that case, please be as close to perfect as possible every time.
In other cases, understand the priority of the project or task you are working on.
If something just needs to go out, then don’t sweat too much on it.
It is about understanding the priority that helps you navigate perfectionism.
It’s easier said than done.
It requires conscious thinking and training of your mind to detect these moments, and to actively adjust your course and attention, so you are not spending hours on something that needs 20 minutes of your time.
As much as I’m trying to get better at this myself, it’s still hard sometimes.
Especially to differentiate between what needs that extra touch and what not, and when.
Are you getting things done?
3. The one on money
Stress tied to money, and how to live more at ease.
One of the biggest themes for almost anyone is money.
We all start thinking about money very early in our lives because we see everything money can get you.
As kids, we see that money can buy you basically everything you want, from ice cream, toys, and video games to vacations, cars, and much more.
We grow into teenagers and adults with big hopes and expectations of what money is going to allow us to do, and we can’t wait.
How you manage your first income depends heavily on your parents’ relationship with money, and on how they taught you to handle it.
Some people feel an internal rush when the first paycheck arrives and are urged to go buy everything this money will allow.
On the other hand, some spend a part but also save, to make sure they have something for later.
Basics. We all know how this works.
Why then do we have so much stress tied to money?
Is it because of the lack of power?
Is it because we just simply want to buy more than we can earn?
Is it because we are in debt?
Is it because we are in need of it?
The answers might include everything and much more.
Every one of us is in a different situation.
I might be under financial stress because I can’t fill my emergency account and just keep taking from it for other things that are appearing unexpectedly.
It always feels like a one step forward, two steps back situation, with no end in sight.
You might be limited in how much you can work, so your income is lower than it could be, and that causes you a lot of stress.
You might be feeling trapped because of it.
The scenarios are endless. Because everyone handles money differently, with different expectations and different habits.
Today’s social media is also not helping us want less in life.
We are constantly presented with shiny objects, luxury holidays, sports cars, beauty, villas, and endless other things.
How do we live more at ease with all of this happening in our lives?
I think it comes down to our own expectations. Which are often unrealistic.
You want to be a billionaire driving a Bugatti, living on top of a skyscraper, and drinking champagne for breakfast. But you are a lazy person who likes to sleep in, and working hard really never interests you.
How the f*ck do you want to be a billionaire then?
Or maybe you want to be a successful hedge fund manager, spending your summers in Italy and winters in the snowy wonderland of Switzerland.
But numbers and money confuse you, and you can’t really think strategically.
Why do you even want to be a hedge fund manager then?
The problem with our expectations is that we see all these people and we look only at their results.
We just picture ourselves driving these cars, living this lifestyle, and we think to ourselves how amazing it would be to do the same.
It might be an amazing life.
But are you willing to invest the time, the energy, and go through everything they had to go through to get there?
Most of the time not.
When you hear that the person works 100+ hours a week, suddenly the money doesn’t sound so good, because it’s too much of a sacrifice.
The solution to this problem is to look inside of you and listen to what you, your soul, and your inner instinct are telling you.
Just because there are billionaires driving Bugattis doesn’t mean you have to be one too.
Maybe what you really want is the respect they get when they walk into a room.
And that you can get another way too, by doing something meaningful, something aligned with you.
This is not a simple question to answer or a simple decision to make.
It requires constantly checking with yourself if the steps you are taking are bringing you closer to the life you want.
And maybe it is the life of a hedge fund manager.
But you need to be honest with yourself about whether that is what you really want, and whether you are willing to go on that journey and sacrifice what is needed.
If yes, great. There is your path to walk.
If not, then you just want the lifestyle but not that career.
So go and find something else that is going to be worth the sacrifice and will get you the lifestyle you want.
The key message here is:
Don’t try to compete with the world and portray yourself in others' lives without considering how much sacrifice it took to get there.
Choose a life that you are willing to work hard for.
The amount of money in the bank account doesn’t play any role if you are living a life of misery and stress.
4. The work begins within
What is love?
How do you describe love?
How do you feel when you fall in love?
What makes you feel loved?
How do you express love?
What role does love play in your life?
Have you ever lost your mind thanks to love?
Is love happy or sad?
Where does love come from?
Why is there love?
How do you create love?
Is love painful?
How much love can you give?
How much love can you receive?
Have you ever lost hope for love?
When did you feel loved the most?
When did you miss being loved?
The most important love is the love for ourselves.
Without our own self-love, we can’t love others truly.
Spend time learning how to love yourself.
And not only today.
Love yourself every day.
Because the work begins within.
5. There are days
There are days when things go as we planned, and days when everything is the opposite of what we wanted.
It’s normal.
What you do during those other days is what makes the difference.
Are you leaning in? Or fighting against it?
There is no correct answer on what you should do.
But when you planned something important to do, you should find the time, even during those hard days, and finish what you started.
You will be thankful and proud of yourself at the end that you didn’t give up.
Sometimes you need to go outside of your routine to finish what you started on that day.
That means going to sleep later, waking up later, or doing something else that affects your daily routine.
Why?
Because sometimes you just need to do it.
6. Reminders for life
Things get hard in life, and sometimes more often than we would like.
Some of us are by nature more resilient to the outside world.
Some, on the other hand, are much less.
What I have found useful is this set of reminders that can help you navigate daily life:
Don’t share negativity or hatred.
Be a positive-thinking person.
Radiate good energy around you.
Try to help people every day.
Work very hard to create the life you want for yourself and your family.
Money doesn’t define happiness for you.
Your friends and family are the most valuable things you have in life.
Work on yourself to create a better and healthier lifestyle.
You have done so many hard things already. You can do this.
You are not your body, you are not your mind. You are stronger than you think.
Never give up. You always find a way to solve the problems.
There is not much else to say.
Hope it gave you something.
Which one of these hits you the hardest right now? I’d love to know.
7. Your future self deserves it
Self-integrity in today’s world is rare and underappreciated.
Why?
For a simple reason. People are turning bitter and negative more and more often, because of politics, money, household problems, addictions, and so on.
You are always presented with two options.
You can choose the easy path and be demoralized, or the harder path and live with peace of mind.
What do I mean by these two options and those two paths?
When we were kids, our parents told us not to steal anything, right?
You can always go behind the system’s guardrails to make your life easier this way.
Stealing, cheating, and manipulating are all behaviours that will get you things faster, but with other kinds of price tags.
That’s the easy path.
You pay with your integrity, with trust from other people, and with your peace of mind.
You might feel short-term adrenaline and dopamine rushing through your system because of this quick gain.
But the aftertaste is bitter and lasts for a long time, especially in the dark corners of your mind.
Why might we be tempted by this path?
Well, it’s increasingly hard for young people today to stay out of debt, buy a house and a car, or even start a family.
People are desperately looking for a quick way to get rich.
Because most of the time the money is needed. And social media is feeding us overnight success like it’s a product on sale.
In moments of hopelessness, people lose patience to wait until things get better in life for them.
They stop believing in the dreams they had about their career or business because they can’t wait another 5 or 10 years for things to get better.
The world is cruel and unfair to many of us on this planet.
All I want to say to you is this: don’t go down that path.
One single thought about going to jail for stealing should be enough to keep you away from these behaviours.
Even if it seems that self-integrity is overlooked or underappreciated in our society, don’t get pulled down with it.
You can achieve great things if you persist and work on yourself.
Build the version of yourself that you will be proud of in the future.
A version of yourself which faced all the challenges life brought and still made it.
A version of yourself that, despite all the doubts and uncertainty, still made it.
A version of yourself that will be a great example to your kids and spouse.
Be better for yourself, because your future self deserves it.
I aim to deliver the most personal stories, insights, and lessons from real-world experiences I have lived through over the past decade. As I continue building my life and trying to be a better version of myself, I am documenting this journey and the lessons from my life for people who might need to hear them.
- Lukáš