Sacrifice today for a better tomorrow. What you give up today can end up becoming much larger tomorrow. Your efforts snowball into a large avalanche over a long period of time. The future is what matters in your life, not the present or the past.
While you are sitting on the couch, there are millions of others who are working their fingers to the bone. Do you want to rest today when you have the most energy? Or do you want to rest tomorrow when you have less energy to spend? Today is the youngest you’ll ever be in your entire life.
Put in the work today so that you can relax tomorrow. Delayed gratification is a powerful concept that created millionaires and many successful people. Your self today is a result of actions and choices that your past self made yesterday. Are you happy with your past self’s choices?
If not, it means you need to sacrifice today for a better tomorrow.
They say no one wishes they worked harder on their deathbed. I disagree. The ones who know they didn’t work as hard as they should have regret not working more. They regret not putting in more time and effort to achieve their goals. Don’t be filled with regrets down the road. Give life everything that you’ve got.
I amassed a $350,000 net worth at the age of 26 because I sacrificed and gave up eating and going out. With that net worth means that I have options. If my company fired me tomorrow, then I have the option to wait it out and consider what I actually want out of life. There is no desperation on my end.
Having options is an underrated position to be in.
Why Sacrifice Today for a Better Tomorrow?
You should sacrifice today for a better tomorrow by SMASHING that social share button and post to your favorite social media! Your friends may be too accustomed to the instant gratification that is so prevalent these days. Remember that patience is the most important trait for a person to be successful.
The ones who can wait for good things to happen end up winning by the end. Your friends might not know this yet. Therefore, you can help spread the word for free and help out your friends. A win-win deal.
So with that said, let’s go into the reasons why you should give up today to have a better tomorrow.
1) Tomorrow is What Matters
In many cultures of the world, the future is the most important. Not the past, not the present, but the future. It’s the planet that your children are going to inherit down the road. Sacrifice today for a better tomorrow because the long-term view is what matters. Today is almost already the past.
Every second that passes is already the past. Your future self’s life tomorrow will be a little better than today. Then so on and so on until the overall quality base of your life improves. Your efforts can only compound. I used to only live for the present.
The thinking that I don’t know where I’ll be in a year from now so I should spend like there’s no tomorrow resonated with me.
Don’t get sucked into the “but I don’t know where I’ll be in a year from now” mindset. The chances of death for a 25 year old male is 0.16%. Don’t live life preparing for the 0.16% chance that something will happen. Live life preparing for the 99.84% that something will happen.
2) Rewards are Greater in the Future
Everyone knows the power of compound interest. A dollar today can be worth $10 after 40 years from today. Ten times. That’s a lot of returns. Compound interest doesn’t only apply to investing, only. It also applies to your efforts as well. The seed that you plant today grows into a magnificent tree 40 years from now.
Trade mediocrity today for greatness tomorrow. Sacrifice today for a better tomorrow. The amount of growth you experience towards the latter of the years is insurmountable. The amount that you start with will just be a blip. Think about your life today and how much less you have to work than 10 years ago.
I bet you only need to put in a fraction of the effort you used to put in 10 years ago. That is the power of compound interest at play.
3) You Will be Prouder That You Sacrificed Today
Have you ever waited for something? Have you ever had to be patient in getting a reward? Didn’t that reward feel mountain times better because you waited? You appreciate and enjoy the benefits of that reward much more because you sacrificed. It makes you not want to lose the reward, ever.
When you sacrifice today for a better tomorrow and tomorrow actually comes, you feel prouder. You didn’t give in to your urges but rather controlled yourself. You didn’t let your emotions get the better of you and win. Self control is NOT an easy feat. There are very few people who can actually accomplish it.
Therefore, when you actually do master it, you feel much better. To know that you made it into reality what you only thought was possible. It’s a sign of what you’re actually made of. Grit and persistence.
How to Sacrifice Today for a Better Tomorrow
So now that you’re convinced why you should sacrifice today for a better tomorrow, let’s get into how to go about it.
1) Stop Practicing Excessive Consumerism
Whatever you picked up at the store, ask yourself if you actually need it. 90% of the time, you don’t. If you don’t, then it’s time to put that thing right back onto the shelf. You don’t need it today as much as you think you do. Don’t get sucked into the classic sales tactics.
The most classic sales tactic is the “it’s only available for a limited time”! Really? Then how come it was available when you went back the next day? There are few things that are only available for a short amount of time. Don’t get sucked into all the clever sales and marketing tactics. It’s not good.
If you don’t need it, you don’t need to buy it. Excessive consumerism is a massive enemy that should be abolished.
2) Sleep, Eat, and Exercise
To use a sports analogy, think of today as conditioning your physicality. Think of tomorrow as the actual competition and tournament. There’s not a single athlete on Earth who became number one without any physical and strength training. Absolutely none.
Tournaments and competitions are fun. It’s when you get to finally show off what you’ve put in so much effort for. However, if you didn’t sacrifice today for a better tomorrow and actually put in the legwork beforehand, competition will bulldoze you.
Take care of your physical health to get ready for that “tournament” you’re training for. The greatest weapon you will ever have is your health.
Don’t eat bad food today just because it’s convenient. Sacrifice today and eat something healthy and delicious. People generally do not like eating healthy food no matter how good it tastes. Don’t follow the crowd. Eat healthy so tomorrow you feel great.
3) Reflect and Evaluate
Take stock of what you’re actually doing today. Are you really sacrificing today for a better tomorrow? There’s a lot of people whose favorite saying is “well, I worked hard, I deserve to buy this”. There’s nothing wrong with treating yourself here and there. However, are you saying that sentence more times than you would like or should?
If you’re saying that more times than once a week, you’re saying it way too often. Unless it was truly an extraordinary week, you shouldn’t be saying it more than once a week. Honestly evaluate whether you are truly sacrificing today for a better tomorrow. Some people sacrifice once today only to take double tomorrow.
In other words, their sacrifice really wasn’t a net positive. It was just delaying the inevitable. That’s not what the point of sacrifice really is. Don’t be one of these people.
4) Think About the “Better Tomorrow” You’re Working Towards
Much of delayed gratification is mental. When you constantly remind yourself the reward that you are working towards, you will be motivated. It could be for your future children or for a promise you made to your parents. Whatever your definition of a better tomorrow actually is, visualize it.
Believe that the better tomorrow will actually come. I’m five years in to my financial independence journey. There was a time when I thought I would never reap the rewards of saving and investing so much of my income. While I’m not 100% there yet, I am 100% satisfied with where I am so far.
I can’t imagine what I would have done if I’m not in the financial spot that I’m currently in. Without envisioning and visualizing what my success would feel like, I would have given up halfway. Don’t lose sight of your goals by reminding yourself often of what life will be like. Once you get there, it feels like bliss.
5) Separate Between Your Wants and Needs
Everything that you do today, is most likely your wants. Your needs are already most likely taken care of. We don’t need to spend money or do all the things that we do today. It’s all in our head. That doesn’t mean never go out and spend money. You should go out and enjoy life.
I heavily stress the need for fun money in your budget. You need it in order to stay sane. However, what it does mean is to accurately evaluate if you are wanting things that you don’t need too much. Sacrifice today for a better tomorrow by differentiating between your wants and needs.
Do you really need the things that you bought in the past year or can you honestly live without some of it? There are definitely purchases I regret making in the past. I own 8 pairs of shoes of which I haven’t used 6 of in the past three years.
Therefore, it’s better to separate whether you truly need those products or whether you can live without them.
Sacrifice Today for a Better Tomorrow
You will be amazed at what you can accomplish when you sacrifice today for a better tomorrow. Instead of just working 8 hours today, work 10 hours. By the end of the year, you will be ahead by an extra 25% versus someone who only works 8 hours a day.
Then the difference can only widen even further as time passes and you continue to put in the additional effort. Don’t be that person who wishes they started a year ago. Be the person who is grateful for starting a year ago. I made a ton of sacrifices working late nights in the office and saving as much money as I can.
However, I am grateful to my past self for doing such a thing. There’s no reason why it won’t be the same for you. Those dollars you spend on a latte isn’t actually worth the $5. It’s actually worth $50 40 years in the future. While inflation will make it so that $50 is actually worth something like $25 today.
Therefore, in actuality, it’s not $5 that you spend today, it’s actually $25. That’s why it’s worth it to wait and practice delayed gratification. You don’t even have to do anything special to sacrifice today. All you need to have are some self control and a want to make your future as bright as possible.
Once you finally reach the final destination, you will be grateful for putting yourself through the journey. During the journey, you will be questioning why you are putting yourself through such turmoil and inconvenience. I know I have many times and wanted to quit more times than one.
However, one day, you will wake up with gratitude that you sacrificed today for a better tomorrow.
Great points you bring up and I agree. Its not even so much about sacrifice, but about living the life thats really better for you. I’ve come to learn that you dont need all this stuff that we have been led to believe. Practicing moderation, discipline etc is usually in your best interest. Even though I can now afford it, I dont go out and buy stuff I dont need or upgrade things as often as I may have done before. Its just wasteful in many ways. I’ll still spend money to enjoy myself, but now Im much more selective and I dont feel like im missing out on anything. You dont need to be a sheep and believe the marketing hype to be happy. These companies do everything they can to get you to spend your money on their products.
Thank you Arrgo. Selective spending really is key. There’s nothing wrong with splurging here and there on your financial independence journey. However, companies use so many tricks to get you to think that you need those products for yourself.
All you have to do is wait and sacrifice today so that you can get a better deal tomorrow in the used market or when they go on “sale”. Especially hwen it comes to cars. Let someone else pay for the depreciation cost while you just wait around waiting to pounce on the opportunity to get a great car at a fire sale price.