Are You Living in the Future?

Try this trick to increase efficiency and effectiveness in your life

While running some errands at the mall recently, I stopped at a local seafood restaurant for lunch. I have been aware of this place for many years, but never went in. One of the features of the building is an intriguing and funny sign. As you can see, it is a tasty promise of free crab. This is similar to a sign I saw at a bar somewhere that said “Free Beer Tomorrow.”

This inspired me to share something I decided to try many years ago in order to manage multiple projects and complete assignments on time. It is a frame of mind, and a shift in how one thinks when making a promise.

It's actually a simple concept: Shifting the frame of reference of everything to the present tense moves things in a positive direction.

Past Tense – Remember When

As the fictional character Tony Soprano (played by the late James Gandolfini) said, “’Remember when is the lowest form of conversation.’”

While this may or may not be true, talking about the past does not do too much for solving today’s tasks or problems, unless the previous situation can be used to guide actions for tasks that need to be completed. I call this the application of precedence and experience, and a great practice is to use these experiences to do – or not do - something to help complete your task or solve a problem today. So past tense thinking is not a bad thing, if it helps something you are working on now. It is also a very good thing, if you can report that you completed a task assigned to you.

Future Tense – Free Crab Tomorrow

One of my sisters is a “thinker.” She always has a plan for what she wants to do next. But there is a slight problem with this – the action phase is always preceded with the future tense phrase, “I’m going to. . .”

This is a problem because the plans sometimes never happen, since the “doing phase” is in the future. It is exactly like the empty promise of free crab or free beer tomorrow. And like the funny and empty promise, even when the next day comes, the phrase is still valid and in place. But the promise is never fulfilled.

It is similar to the problem of not achieving or not finishing something on a long list of things to do. If the list is long and not realistic, stress is created by number of items not completed.

Suggestion: When you do have something to do – do it now rather than later, so you can report what you accomplished today.

Present Tense – The Here and Now

Think about your frame of tense as you work with others. Try to change your state of mind from past or future tense to present tense. This time-shift attitude can improve your reputation (become known as a “do-er” rather than a “planner”) and enhance your productivity (driving projects to completion).

Make it Present and Positive

Rather than making a promise (future tense) you may not be able to keep, why not focus on getting things done, and make positive reports of what you have completed today. If you are making positive progress, report on today’s status. If you provide an estimate when you will complete your task or project, make sure you deliver on your promise. (See how future tense can possibly damage your reputation?)

Give this time-shifting to the present concept a try and let me know how this works!

This buzz is a slightly edited version that originally appeared on LinkedIn.

Key words and tags: Life lessons, self-help, personal improvement, productivity, efficiency, personal branding

About Wayne Yoshida

Wayne Yoshida is a technical writer and education advocate with sales management experience. Wayne currently works in the alternative fuel vehicle (AFV) industry and has worked for a wide variety of high technology companies, including aerospace and defense, photonics, lasers and opto-mechanics, two-way radio, telecommunications and a non-profit, educational organization. His personal passion for electronics and Amateur Radio opened many doors to some very interesting personal and professional experiences. Working as a ham radio consultant for the NASA Johnson Space Center during Space Shuttle mission STS-9 is his most memorable experience. Connect with him on LinkedIn and beBee, and for a look into his personal passions, follow his blog.