Just another thought that relates to the issues being discussed here: different people connect differently with their own futures. For individual A, what happens to him/her in five years time is, say, 75% as real as what is happening today. For individual B, it's 50%. For individual C, it's 0%.

So it's much harder for individual C to change the present to avoid a negative outcome five years down the line. Individual A, with a very different sense of the future, will have an easier time doing things good for him/her in the future.

What affects that sense of the reality of the future? Me, I'm individual C and always have been. I noticed this in high school. I would see people doing quite a bit of heavy lifting to attain future goals a long ways away. And I couldn't relate to that. I'd try it out mentally, think myself into their situation, and it just wouldn't work. I never was able to get het up about the medium or long term. A grasshopper, not an ant.

Is such an orientation permanent? Just part of your personality? Can it be changed? I know I read an article about this recently, but since it wasn't phrased in these terms I didn't recognize the relevance and can't remember where I read it.

Anyone have any ideas about this? Take care.