I like to plan for the future a lot. It helps motivate me to get stuff done and keep working for what i want.
But i also just take moments to appreciate what i already have. One of my favorite things to do is smell the air outside. Each season has a different smell to it and idk what it is but when i stop to smell that, life is good.
Know what you want and plan for it but dont stress out too much. It defeats the purpose of planing if its stressing you out. And even if you do plan, life will throw you curveballs. I like the phrase lifes a marathon, not a sprint a lot because i often feel like i HAVE to be doing more when i dont.
I’m only 26 so its not like ive had a lifetime of experience or anything. I got lots of time to do what i want. I’ll keep working hard to do what i swt out to but ill take time to enjoy what i love. I’ll keep making music, messing around with computers and ill still make plans even if i dont quite get there.
The main “planning” I did was related to my job. I saved a few months of expenses in a savings account. Enough so if I lost my job I’d be able to survive for at least a few months. That removed a ton of stress from the day to day of work since I knew I could always step back if I really had to and if I lost my job I wouldn’t starve.
Essentially I “planned” enough to give me the freedom to live in the moment with less worry.
You figure out where you want to go. Plan how to get there, and then do things in the present to get there. Don’t get stressed out how things turn out; you can only really have some notion of control of what you are doing. If the current plan doesn’t work, change it, and keep doing it, until you get there, or not.
Try to regularly imagine yourself on your death bed, looking back on life. I find that inspires the optimal blend. You don’t want to look back on a life of mindless work, or of fruitless sloth. If old-you would look back happily on a decision, it’s probably the right one.
If I’m thinking about the future and it’ll take just a minute or two, I’ll do it right then. If it’ll take lots of time I’ll put a task on my calendar for another day and deal with it then, then get back to living my life (well, posting memes, but I didn’t come here to be judged). Now planning has a time but I don’t have to think about it until then.
I treat retirement planning like Ron Popeil’s rotisserie cooker. “You set it, and forget it.” Index funds don’t need to be managed, and recurring transfers can be automated.
Medium term planning follows other people’s advice about normal budgeting, with specific piles for specific things.
Short term is extremely simplified at this point. Spend discretionary dollars at your discretion.
First, I completely agree with your thoughts on retirement savings.
However, that’s far from the only thing in “planning for the future”. The future is also things like:
when/if do I start a family?
should I get additional education to help my career prospects?
should I prioritize time with my elderly family members now at the cost of other opportunities for personal or professional growth?
should I put my efforts into growth for my spouse/child?
There’s no easy answers as many of these are mutually exclusive. It becomes a personal value judgement. You may only find out you made the wrong choice for yourself after you’ve passed the point of making a different choice. Such is life.
Financially I save for a 401K and have the company match it. Then online off of what’s left over.
As far as doing things, we plan for larger vacations and events out 1 year. If it’s a less costly or time consuming thing locally we plan those by the week or month.
We don’t do a lot spur of the moment. Keeps the cost down and we’re busy enough as it is with 3 kids.
A written budget that has “fuck it” money as a line item.
If I run out of fuck it money, I have to stop or steal more from another bucket. Am I stealing from retirement? From my next car purchase? Being able to see the impact of my decisions is enough.
I set aside an hour in the morning, best after exercise, to think about the future and write down what I need to do. Then the rest of the day I do what’s in front of me and work my way through the to-do list without having to spend too much mental energy on it.
Being present in the moment means not having your mind wanders. You can still have moments dedicated to planning for the future. And you can also be present in those moments, planning while not having your mind wanders.
Now I think it’s also important to add that it’s normal for the mind to wander. You don’t learn to be present in the moment by being mad at your mind for wandering. Just refocus on your subject once you’ve noticed that you’ve wandered away.
Joking, but also serious. The more you try the harder it is, but you gotta try right? Paradox.
In the meantime maybe break it up. Plan a day ahead, then maybe a week. Go with that for a bit. Maybe you’ll eventually start planning farther ahead, or maybe you’ll find contentment with a bitesized scope. I don’t think there are any hard and fast rules. But above all, be kind to yourself.
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