Are you looking after your future self? Do you have a relationship with your future self? Are you taking action today to create a better life for yourself tomorrow?
In this episode you will learn:
- A technique to help you move out of procrastination
- How to help yourself, do what you need to do in the present moment, for what you want to achieve in the future
- How to deepen your relationship with yourself by connecting with your past and your future
- How to develop a deep trust and connection with yourself, and know that you will follow through and do the things that you say that you're going to do
You can listen to the episode above or read the unedited transcript below.
Transcript
Meaghan Smith 00:20
Hello beautiful people and welcome to another episode of the money mindful Podcast. I am your host Meaghan Jean Smith. I'm a money mindset and life coach for women. I help women create the extraordinary lives they want to live on purpose by coaching them and arming them with the tools that they need to create the life that they want. Okay, let's get into this episode. I am a wondering what this is. Because I've called it are you looking after Nana? The fat Okay, so my parents, both my grandparents one was called grandma one was called Nana, and I have a real affection for the word Nana, I really like it. I'm totally down with it. Unfortunately, my own mother and mother in law are not down with that. We really wanted to call Louis's mom, Nana, and she wouldn't have a bar of it. So she's grandma. But I'm totally into the word Nana. And when I'm, if I'm lucky enough that my children have children, and I become a grandparent. Let me tell all now that I want to be a Nana. So okay, let's, let's put some sense into this and let you know why I'm talking about this.
Meaghan Smith 01:56
Basically, one of the common issues that comes up with my clients is procrastination. They want to do something, but they procrastinate, I'm, I'm sure that you are no stranger to putting tasks off, I certainly am not. And what I want to talk to you about today is something that really helps me with procrastination. And it's also just more of a broader topic about helping yourself, do what you need to do in the present moment for what you want to achieve in the future. And there's a couple of ways that you can do do this. So the first concept I want to talk to you about is I think of my self, a little bit like three people. So there's the my past self, who's done all of the things in my past to get me to where I am now. There's my present self who's living this current life, but my present self is taking the action to create the life for my future self. And that's what I mean by are you looking after Nana. So I take action now in my life, to look after my future self, who I like to think of as Nana. Yes, this is me totally authentic than trying to pretend anything that I'm not. So how does this apply to you? How does it help with procrastination? Alright. One of the things that I struggle I have struggled with and also lots of my clients come to me with this issue is they procrastinate, they don't do something in the moment. And often it's it's a variety of reasons, okay. It might be because they think the task is how difficult it might be because they're rebelling against themselves a little bit. You know, it's like, well, I don't have to do that. Now. I can choose to do that another time. I can do whatever I want. You know, that kind of vibe. Like, yes, you can. You can do whatever you want. You can eat chocolate all day. You can watch Netflix all day. That's totally available too. But the missing point in that is that when you don't do what you say you're going to do. The person that you are dishonouring is who It's you, the person that you are being disrespectful to, by not following through on what you want to do, is you?
Meaghan Smith 05:13
What isn't that crazy when you think about it like that, because there's so many things that we do to ourselves that we would never do to someone else. Right? We would never force a kid or somebody to eat junk food, or we would never just not show up to a work meeting, right? Like, just blow it off, and go and eat potato chips and watch Netflix, as if we would do that. If we had an appointment with someone, we would meet that appointment, because we respect the other person, right? But so often we blow ourselves off and what we want to do, we just don't do it, we procrastinate, we do other things instead. And the person who bears the consequences of that is also ourselves. Right? Like with procrastinating things, it's, you know, you might have a work deadline, for instance, and you just put it off, you put it off, you put it off, you put it off until the night before and then you kind of stressed getting it done, and you might not have done you your best work. But what if you had done it at the start of the week, and you just had it complete, and then you had plenty of time to go over it and adjust it if you want. Who benefits from that you, you benefit from that? Now how that works in the greater scheme of your life is you can use this I mean, I use this as a huge motivator for the things that I do in present time that don't feel good. Okay, just a little side note here. You know, one of the reasons why so many people aren't good with money in terms of you know, investing and buying property or creating passive incomes, because it's boring, and it doesn't feel good. That is why that is the only reason why and most people don't even realise that. Because going and spending your money on a new car or going and spending your money on a new outfit or something like that is far more exciting, and feels so much better than putting your money in the bank and saving it to not use again until you're 65 or something like that. Right? It's instant gratification. And it feels good. How does this relate to Nana? Well, when you are always in instant gratification, and meeting the needs of your instant desires and urges right now, you are doing it at the expense of Nana, your future self. And that can look like so many different things. So I've discovered recently and it's taken me a long time to really kind of be honest with myself is when I eat processed carbs, like lots of pasta and bread and stuff like that I get a hangover the next day from it, I actually wake up, my body feels a bit achy. And I feel like I've been drinking the night before. And I don't even really drink I rarely drink again. But I feel like I've got a hangover The next day, when I mean maybe not just from eating one little process guy like if I had toast or something One day, the next day, I wouldn't feel like that. But it's kind of like a gradual thing. Like I find if I start eating a lot of processed carbs, I feel terrible. And it's something that I'm working on currently that I'm literally using this this same process with to change my behaviour because there's nothing in my mind there's nothing wrong with having toast or having pasta like, I don't see that as a problem. But I'm noticing now the negative effects that's having on on my life like the next day I feel terrible and my energy levels drop and I feel a bit irritable. And yeah, I don't enjoy the effect the next day. So the present person that I am today has to I have choice over what I do to affect who I am tomorrow. Right? I just want that to sink in for a minute. So what I do today, the choices and the actions that I take today creates my tomorrow.
Meaghan Smith 10:10
And why this is so awesome to know and to, to apply is that you can use this as something to motivate you to really create a deep, deep trust and connection with yourself, that you will follow through and that you will do the things that you say that you're going to do, because you're actually looking after your future self. I've, I've been amazed at how effective this is, when I'm embracing that. Okay, I don't walk around every second of the day thinking or is this decision or action creating the better tomorrow for me, I mean, it's, it's not a natural place that I go to. But when I do it deliberately, it is so helpful for me to make decisions and to do things that affect my future. So I'm going to take you through a little process that you can do to really help you with this. And to get into it to get into the vibe of this one way that is really helpful to start like Step one is to write a letter, if you will, to your past self. I think this is a beautiful thing to do. Thanking your past self for doing the things in the past that got you to where you are today. So I'm going to give you some examples of that. So I am so grateful for my past self for going and studying and being a teacher. Like putting that hard work in, like having the courage to change careers, and go back to university and study and start a new career and become a teacher. I'm so grateful for my past self for doing that. I'm also really grateful for my past self taking care of my body, exercising, and doing things that I benefit from today. my health, my skin, my my physical health, I'm in good health because my past self looked after me. Here she did things like when walking regularly. And you know, my past self did yoga every day for a year. There's lots of things that my past self did for me, that really benefit benefited my life. Now, I'm so grateful that my past self had the courage, again, to change careers again, I go and study to be a life coach and go through life coach certification, and do all those scary moves like spending the money on the certification and doing all the work that was involved like all the trainings and all the homework and the hours and hours and hours of coaching and written coaching and learning processes and practising processes. I'm so grateful for my past self who did that. I'm so grateful to my past self for saving money for years and years to buy my first property. And I'm so grateful that that my past self said no to lots of things. So she could say yes to buying a property. Because that's what me the present self me really wanted. And I'm so grateful for that. Do you get the idea. And so from that space, like that puts you in a good space to connect with this exercise to then start thinking about what do you want to do now? What can your present self do today to create a better tomorrow for your future self or a better tomorrow for Nana. I just recently had a really cool experience with the bank. We
Meaghan Smith 14:40
were coming to the end of an interest free period. And it would be so easy for me to just revert to the standard variable interest rate and don't worry about it or deal with it. But I don't want to do that I want the best interest rate and conditions possible. All to create a better result for my future self. So I got on the phone to my broker and ask them to go to go into battle for me for the bank to get me the best rate, they got me an amazing rate that was lower than what the bank was offering. And then just by chance, get these, this is such a cool story. It was a public holiday. And so instead of talking to my broker, I rang the bank because I just wanted to get some information about what the repayment was going to be. And then the guy was like, Oh, you know, you can just do this over the phone. I was like, yeah, yeah. But um, I use a regular broker, I'll go through my broker. And then it just occurred to me, I was like, Well, if he can get me a better interest rate, like, yeah, sure, let's do it. And he said, Well, leave it with me, I'll call you back in the morning. The next day, he called me and he gave me an even better interest rate, then my broker could get get me she was thrilled. It was so great. But doing that work, like going on the phone, talking to banks, and talking to brokers is not exciting stuff, I've got to say for me. But the results that it creates for my future self is so fantastic, right. And this is what motivates me to do the boring stuff. This is why I get on and learn about stuff to do with superannuation, or do things today that might feel boring, or that I don't want to do, because I'm looking after my future self. And one thing you can do to tap into this is ask yourself questions like, What does Nana want? What does your future self want? Does she want a healthy body? Does she want a home to live in rent free? Like does she want to own a home outright? So think about picture, your 85 year old self? Does she want to be living in a home that is fully paid for? Does she want to be relying on the government pension? Or does she want to be fully financially independent and set up? Right? Ask yourself those questions and then answer those questions. And then based on your answers, take action today to create that for your future self. And that is the best one of the best ways I know how to shift out of procrastination. Like even if it's something as simple as putting the doona in the washing machine. Like you could so put the donna in the washing machine tomorrow. Not a problem. Like it's such an easy thing to do. And they're the kind of things that we put up like cleaning the kitchen, or doing the dishes right at nighttime. But just ask yourself at night. Will my future self tomorrow be grateful and thankful that I did the dishes tonight. And when I wake up tomorrow, it's going to be a beautiful clean kitchen. And I don't have to do that at 6am in the morning when I'm half asleep. Right? Like it's a really cool way to reframe what you're doing in the present moment. So Will my future self be totally loving on me now? Because I regularly saved money and put money aside for myself. Now, I didn't buy certain things because I put money into investments instead. Is my future self going to be thanked thanking me for that? Heck, yes, she is definitely going to be thanking me for that. And that is a huge motivator for me to do the things now that perhaps don't feel so good. Because I'm looking after Nana
Meaghan Smith 19:02
Are you looking after Nana, if you're not not a problem, you can totally start doing that from today. A really beautiful way to reframe what you are doing, and thinking about your life beyond today, like thinking about your life into the future. And when I do this also, it helps me not feel like I'm missing out on anything right now because I'm still getting the benefit of it. It's still for me, but it's for my future me. It's for my 85 year old Nana me who by the way, is going to be a total badass.
Meaghan Smith 19:48
All right. If anything that I have said on the podcast today resonates with you and you would like to take any of this work further. I would like to invite you to jump on a consult call with me. What is that? That is an hour of time that you get to spend on yourself. I take you through a little bit of a process, we look at exactly where you are in your life right now you get to tell me about all the things that you are struggling with what you want to change, then you can let me know exactly what you would like to create in your life like ideally, what is it that you actually want? What do you want your life to look like? How do you want to feel in your life? What goals do you want to reach and then I bridge that gap for you. I give you an actual plan of how to do that and I do that on the call. It is an amazing way to spend an hour whether you work with me or not. It's a beautiful gift that you can give to yourself. So to do that, it's really easy you just go to my website money mindful comm.au there's a work with me tab and you can schedule a consult with me there. I know some of you are listening from overseas and I do what I've had people contacting me asking me Do you do coach women in blah blah blah country? Yes, I do as long as the our schedules align. If there's no time on the schedule, when you go to book a consult with me that works for you because you're in a different contact different time zone. Feel free to shoot me an email, Megan, me ag HN at money mindful.com.au and let me know that you want to book a consult and then I can see what I can do for you and see if we can make a time. That works. Okay, until you hear from me next week. Have a beautiful week. Bye Bye.