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Do you ever feel overwhelmed by your long-term plans and goals? Trapped in endless planning and procrastination. No matter how perfect of a habit routine and action plan you design, it is always delayed until “tomorrow”. Thus you only ever live in the frustration and guilt of not following through on your plans.
Ciao! I’m PAULIS.
As a dancer and choreographer who can lift anyone and a published AI researcher with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Edinburgh, I’ve spent years maximising myself in both physical and intellectual realms. Whether it’s backflips, computer vision, or interpersonal psychology, I’ve long dedicated myself to continuous growth and improvement.
Let’s look at your long-term goals, make them clear, find the highest leverage next action, and actually do it – right now! Doesn’t matter if it is morning or evening, a habit or a task. You won’t feel burdened by unfulfilled plans, and you’ll be making real progress every single day.
We’ll get there by learning to take responsibility in the present moment, instead of only ever pushing tasks onto your future self. Clarifying your long-term goals and working them back to today, emphasising action rather than over-planning. You are only a steward of this body for the day, do your best at that position, while realising that “your best” is ever changing.
Do you ever feel trapped in endless planning and procrastination? You journal, plan, and figure out your goals and priorities. You set a perfect habit routine and go to bed motivated… Only to wake up and check your phone first thing. That habit you promised yourself? “I’ll do it tomorrow,” you say. Instead, you end up planning some more, and the cycle continues.
Your long-term goals only overwhelm you. Your good habits never start, and bad habits never stop. All you are left with is the frustration and guilt of not following through on your plans.
Why is there this disconnect? Why can I not do the things that I myself picked out for me to do?
And that’s just it. You aren’t asking those things of yourself. You are asking them of the you of tomorrow.
And that you of tomorrow. He isn’t scheduled to do things he himself picked out, but he is being bossed around by some prick from yesterday, who didn’t have the guts to do the thing himself.
You only ever have the present moment, for you will be dead by tomorrow.
Someone else will wake in this body. You are given control of things only for a day.
This is a concept introduced to me by Dr. K, from his time spent learning to be a buddhist monk.
Realise the impermanence of self. You are ever changing. That is why the present moment is so important, it is only here that you have some say in what to do.
You are given stewardship of this body for the day – be a good steward.
This discontinuity of self, if you are not aware of it, causes a lot of frustration. Why can’t I meet the plans I myself set for me. But if you view yourself as a different person each day, then it all makes sense.
When you decide to change your life, you often craft a perfect plan and design an ideal habit routine. You go to bed proud, thinking you’ll start tomorrow.
But the person waking up tomorrow faces a heavy load of expectations — a to-do list, an uncomfortable routine, restrictions on fun the body craves.
And who’s imposing these demands? Some prick from yesterday that didn’t follow through. Who himself did none of this.
This disconnect leads to frustration and rebellion. The weight of expectations is overwhelming, making it harder to fulfil them.
This is why you don’t ever quit a bad habit tomorrow, or do something tomorrow; you only ever quit or do today.
If you’re finding this useful and want to dive deeper, I have a form linked below. You can access my free Good Gardener guide, which provides more detailed insights, and also register your interest in working with me 1-on-1. This way, I can personally help you implement the practices I cover in my videos.
Don’t set plans for tomorrow that you can’t or won’t follow today.
Instead take responsibility and start now.
Those projected high expectations will only lead to anxiety and disappointment.
Focus on actions you will take today, and relieve tomorrow’s burdens.
Change your mindset from one that curses tomorrow with expectations, to one that serves tomorrow. Tries to make that life as good as can be.
Do what you can today, take things off tomorrow’s plate.
Help the you of tomorrow wake without that nagging background task:
Do today whatever makes tomorrow’s life best.
Love the you of tomorrow!
But we’re not only here to do hedonistic self-care.
Find the HIGHEST LEVERAGE ACTION you could take today, that leads to your LONG-TERM GOALS.
Your “what would I be most proud of 1 year from now”.
The “most proud of” question comes from the last video. A method to reveal your intrinsic motivation. To filter goals rapidly. But for a quick recap:
WHAT WOULD YOU BE MOST PROUD OF 1 YEAR FROM NOW?
This is your (current) long-term goal. Save it somewhere to be reminded often.
Then for every day you just have to figure out the highest leverage action to take towards it.
There are a bunch of methods for figuring out this highest leverage action:
And more. But some version of:
Now that you’ve found the task worth doing, DO IT!
If it is WORTH doing, do it NOW.
How to know if it is worth doing? You can’t. But you’ll know afterwards, and it might help you guess better in the future.
Only EXPERIENCE & REFLECTION on ACTION will help you guess better.
Take action without overthinking. Learn from your experiences and let them guide future decisions.
You will miss the first shots, but if you reflect on each, and shoot anew every day, you’ll get close enough soon enough.
It is okey to not be perfect on your first go, just do your best. If you’ve done your best, really, then there can be no self-judgement, regret.
You might recognise that last sentence from Don Miguel Ruiz’s FOUR AGREEMENTS:
All four are beautiful, all four should be remembered often, all four are well beyond the scope of this video. So for now this will be a reminder of the fourth.
Always do your best. Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.
To sum up, tackling your long-term goals starts with taking responsibility in the present moment. Realise that you only have today to make a difference; tomorrow someone else will wake in this body, and you shouldn’t weigh them down with expectations. Instead help them by taking action today. Connect your long-term goals to your immediate actions, and always do your best without self-judgment.
Remember to check out the form linked below. You can get your hands on my free Good Gardener guide for more in-depth information, and also register your interest in working with me 1-on-1. Together, we can make meaningful progress and bring your goals to life.
Be a good steward of today, and as always,
Be a Good Gardener.
You are welcome to comment and discuss at the YouTube video.