What does it say about my long term vision and the manifestation of it, if I am incapable of saying ‘no’ to short term escapes and pleasures?

What does it say about how clearly my long term goals – a fruitful podcast, music school business, performing career, motivational speaker, writer, notable investor, holiness – are articulated and festering in my mind, if I do not have the motivation to stop scrolling on Instagram, or to go to sleep and wake up punctually?

Jordan Peterson, when talking about porn, alcohol, and other addictions, that the reason people are still addicted is because there is no clear, crystallised, and loftier purpose, vision, mission, and drive for something beyond the immediate pleasures? We give up on our future selves when we submit to our old habits – habits and pleasures we KNOW do not and will not truly satisfy and fulfil us.

So, what’s the cure?

Write down, read, and visualise one’s goals, purpose, and mission in life everyday. Be accountable to yourself through your own word. If you set your eyes on heavenly and mountainous tasks, your hunger and craving for the broken, temporal, and fickle treats of this world will diminish.

I will never get back the hours I’ve spent mindlessly scrolling on Instagram. Pursuing, seeking, and suckling on the parched teat of a medium that holds no tangible nourishment, I’ve been there so much it will no doubt dismay my future self.

And that’s the thing too. Every moment I work hard, do what is right, pursue meaningful relationships, practice deliberately, pounce on what is uncomfortable and difficult, relentlessly fight for perfection and holiness, is a moment not wasted on my future self.

That future self does not magically find itself successful, holy, accomplished, righteous, knowledgeable, wise, and influential. It’s built on these moments: these minute-to-minute micro decisions that accumulate over time to build a life worthy of having lived.