Have you ever wondered what your future self would say if you could meet them today?
Imagine you could sit down with yourself at 80 or 85. What would they say about the choices you are making now?
I suspect they wouldn’t be too concerned about whether you bought the right car, watched the latest television series or had that extra piece of cake. They might have rather more to say about how you looked after your health.
Your future self is, in a way, watching everything you do today.
Every time you go for a walk, lift some weights, eat a reasonably healthy meal or get a good night’s sleep, you’re doing something for the person you will become.
The same works in the opposite direction. Spending years being inactive, eating poorly and doing nothing to maintain your strength might not have much of an impact today. That’s the problem. The consequences are often so far away that it’s easy to ignore them.
We are very good at thinking about today and not so good at thinking about 20 years from now.
Perhaps your future self would ask you to think about something quite simple: what do you want to be able to do when you’re 70, 80 or even 90?
Do you want to walk along the beach? Travel? Get down on the floor to play with your grandchildren and get back up again? Carry your own shopping? Walk up a hill? Continue cycling, swimming or running?
None of these things are guaranteed, but the choices you make now can influence how long you remain capable of doing them.
This isn’t about trying to live forever or becoming obsessed with being healthy. It’s about giving yourself the best possible chance of having a healthy and active later life.
And perhaps that’s the best way to think about exercise. You’re not doing it because you have to. You’re doing it because there is a person in the future who is relying on you.
That person is you.
So before you skip the walk, put off the strength session or decide that you’ll start looking after yourself tomorrow, next week or next year, imagine your future self sitting beside you.
What would they want you to do today?