Aligning the values of your current self with your future self

Aligning the values of your current self with the values of your future self. This is a difficult thing to do.

Our current self will undoubtedly try to meet our immediate wants and needs, rather than putting them off to meet the wants and needs of our future self. See delayed gratification. For example, we might procrastinate and spend time on entertainment rather than studying for an exam coming up.

But perhaps that’s the wrong way of thinking- your future self should align values with your past self. Your future self should appreciate the break time your past self got, to recover and prepare for the next burst of work. But that’s also difficult, given that life and the environment we're in changes. Our values change over time, and therefore the values our future selves hold are unlikely to perfectly align with that of our older selves. Furthermore, we cannot predict the future, and hence cannot perfectly align the values of our current selves with that of our future selves.

Perhaps neither of these are the correct way of thinking. Rather, the most important thing is that our current selves are being intentional with our actions, such that our immediate-future and far-future selves would not regret it.

Music:
I've been looping Library Of Ruina - Children of the City constantly this week.

Extension thought (for my future self):
Studying vs playing at university