Accountability to Your Future Self
While I love being a freelancer, there are certain tasks that I don’t enjoy doing. For example, marketing. Or updating my website. I know I need to do them, but sometimes my motivation is lacking.
It’s easy to keep kicking that can down the road: “I’ll do it later.”
One way I get around this type of thinking is to tell myself, “Okay, you can skip doing this task as long as you write a letter to your future self explaining why you didn’t do what you should have done.”
I always imagine this letter saying something like, “Dear Future Jennifer, I am sorry you were kicked out of your apartment and have to couch surf with friends and that you have to sell plasma for food money. I know I could have prevented this situation if only I had done some marketing in 2026, but I didn’t feel like it. Yours sincerely, Current Jennifer.”
This little thought experiment helps me stay accountable for the work that needs to be done.
