This post is NOT about the time-travel novel my son and I are writing. Although, you really should ask me about that. I’d love to tell you more.
Instead, this post is about an insight my son Nathan shared with me during one of our co-author planning meetings. And I thought it was worth sharing with you.
He pointed out that many time-travel stories involve someone attempting to manipulate the past in order to make a change they desire for their present. Even our novel spends much of the storyline exploring the consequences of someone’s attempt to do just that.
But he also asked another interesting question…
What kinds of decisions might we make today if we keep in mind that right now is the past that our future selves will look back on? What is it that “future you” will have wished that “present you” would have done differently than you’re doing now?
At the extreme, on the personal level, this kind of thinking might lead to a “eulogy exercise” where you ask yourself, “What do you want people to say about you at your funeral?” In a business setting, a “premortem exercise” might be an example, where you imagine yourself at the end of a failed project exploring what went wrong and what you will have wished you had done to prevent it.
Regardless of the context, though, think about your current priorities and your current activities. What will future you wish that present you would have been doing differently?
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