I'm one of those people who often prioritize what may happen in the future more than what needs to be done in the present. That's a troublesome mindset I got there and fortunately I detected it not too late. Here I'm sharing one of the many experiences that made me realize this.
Once I bought a sketchbook with special watercolour paper. I was supposed to practise using watercolor there since I was a noob but I was strangled with the anxiety that the papers were so special, if I painted even one careless stroke on them, it would be the end of the world. I was worried about all the 'future masterpieces' failing to earn a place in the sketchbook just because of some worthless scribbles. And who can ever practise painting with that kind of mentality? So, lack of practice resulted in no improvement and soon enough, I became frustrated with my mediocre artwork. Now that sketchbook lies in a corner with most of its 'precious pages' unused.
That's a fairly simple example but protrays the problem quite enough. Or I can think of the other time I was making meticulously beautiful but boring notes for the convenience of my future self spending hours instead of investing that time in making simple understandable notes and learning a lot more in the meantime.
So, the point is– taking precautions for problems that may arise in the future is undoubtedly important but if that means you have to ignore your needs in the present, you're doing it in the wrong way. We live in the present, not future. Also making the best and most use of what we have at this moment is thousand times better than saving it for a future event that we don't even know will arrive or not.
Ha– I've been doing a lot of self-correction this year I see : )
See ya later!