How Not to Need a Time Machine

Imagine you had a time machine. You know, the kind that you see in movies, where you dial in a date and break the space-time continuum.

Imagine you could go back in time and change anything. Something went wrong? No problem. You go back and reverse it. You wish you’d have acted, but you didn’t? Easy. Dial in the date, and you are on you way to a better outcome.

So far there is no such thing as a time machine. But there is something almost as good: the ability to look back at where you are now from the future.

Imagine it’s one year from now. What are you going to proud of? What are you going to regret?

Is the one-year-older and one-year-wiser version of yourself going to look back from a better place, proud that you took action on your highest priorities? Or will that older version of you look back with a sense of disappointment, knowing that had you taken the actions you knew you need to, you’d be someplace different?

Are you going to wish you’d taken better care of yourself? Or will you be happy that you invested the time taking of your mind, body, and spirit?

Are you going to regret not having spent more time with the people that truly matter to you? Or will you look back at the memories you created and feel that stronger connection?

Will you wish you’d have gotten up earlier to pursue your dream? That you’d stayed up a little later doing what you really love? Or will you look back at what you’ve accomplished in such a short time, excited about what is possible in the future?

You don’t have a time machine. But you don’t need one either. You know what the future you is going to be proud of and what the future you is going to regret. As long as you keep that future you front and center as you make decisions as to how you invest your time, you’re not going to need that time machine.