Most of us want to keep moving forward at work and in life. When you ask yourself, “Who do I want to be?” and “Where do I want to go?” chances are that the answers involve growth in some direction. But although you can’t spend all your time pursuing those objectives, you definitely won’t achieve your goals if you don’t spend any time thinking about them. If you want to start a new company, launch a new product, or lead a new group, you have to spend time planning and building the skills and experience you’ll need. Here’s the key: You need to spend time on these things even when there are more pressing things to do, and even when there is no apparent return on your efforts. Sometimes you need to be irresponsible with your current tasks in order to make real progress on your future self.
Adapted from "You Need to Practice Being Your Future Self," by Peter Bregman
