Why Easy Choices Make Life Hard (And Vice Versa)
Believe it or not, this article is a furious reaction to me getting caught doomscrolling on my phone instead of using the last 2 hours for some creative work.
So I'm throwing this week's topic out the fricking window because I obviously need a reminder on why short-term pleasures always lose against long-term value.
And if I need this reminder, you probably do too.
So if you scroll endlessly, order takeout like it's your job, or buy random crap online when you're bored, listen up. Because here's what's actually happening:
Every time you choose the easy thing now, you're essentially punching your future self in the face.
And your future self is getting really tired of getting punched.
Look, I'm not here to turn into some life coach telling you how to live. I literally just caught myself doing the exact shit I'm about to tell you not to do. But that's exactly why this matters.
You have two voices in your brain.
Voice #1 wants what feels good right now. One more scroll. Hit snooze. Order takeout.
Voice #2 thinks long-term. Hit the gym. Save that money. Do the work.
The problem? Voice #1 is LOUD and Voice #2 whispers.
Here's the thing:
Your life is either easy now and hard later, or hard now and easy later.
Easy now = hitting snooze, ordering takeout, mindlessly scrolling.
Hard later = being out of shape, broke, and wondering where the hell your time went.
Hard now = getting up early, doing the work.
Easy later = being fit, financially free, and actually living the life you want.
The weird part? You never need discipline to do the things that are bad for you. Cheap dopamine hits are literally designed to be effortless. You only need discipline for the stuff that's actually good for you.
And that's why most people stay stuck.
But here's what nobody tells you about this whole easy vs hard choice thing.
The Compound Choice Trap (And How To Escape It)
Most people think about choices like they're isolated events.
Should I order takeout tonight?
Should I skip the gym today?
Should I buy this thing on Amazon?
But that's not how life actually works.
Every choice you make is a compound investment. Either into the person you want to become, or into the person you're trying to escape.
A few years ago, I stumbled across this article by Mr. Money Mustache called "Eliminate Short-Termitis, the Bankruptcy Disease."
His insight came with this brutal little calculation trick:
Want to know what that daily habit actually costs you over 10 years? Here's the math assuming you invested that money at 7% instead:
Weekly expense × 752 = your 10-year cost
Monthly expense × 173 = your 10-year cost
That daily 3€ coffee habit? 3€ × 7 × 752 = 15.792€ over 10 years. Not 3€. 15.792€
When I applied this to my own life, I nearly had a panic attack.
I was 27, having a decent paying job. Even though I thought I was living basic, I was still punching my future self. Eating out because I was tired. Buying stuff I didn't need because I "deserved it."
That's when I started thinking in decades instead of days.
So I started choosing differently. Smaller cheaper flat over spacious and big one. Cooking instead of ordering out. Bitcoin when everyone thought it was internet money for criminals.
This is what I call the Future Dustin Framework.
Instead of asking "What do I want right now?"
I started asking "What would future me want me to do?"
Suddenly, choosing to cook at home instead of eating out became a choice between two real people. Present me who wants convenience, and future me who wants financial freedom and health.
Future me won more often.
But first, we need to address why most people struggle with this...
The Future Self System (But First, Let's Talk About Trust)
You probably know about the Stanford marshmallow experiment. Kids could either eat one marshmallow now or wait 15 minutes and get two marshmallows.
The kids who waited supposedly had better life outcomes. Better grades, lower obesity, less drug use. For decades, everyone focused on willpower. The kids who waited were just more disciplined, right?
Wrong.
Here's what the researchers missed: it wasn't about willpower.
It was about trust.
The kids who ate the marshmallow immediately had learned through experience that "later" often means "never." Maybe adults in their lives had made promises that didn't materialize. Maybe they'd been told "we'll do it tomorrow" countless times, and tomorrow never came.
These kids weren't lacking discipline. They were being rational based on their past experiences.
Your relationship with delayed gratification isn't about discipline. It's about whether you trust the system to deliver.
I realized this about myself a couple years ago. Growing up, my parents actually kept their promises. When they said "we'll get it next month," we usually did. That programming built a deep foundation of trust. First in others, then in myself.
I think that's why I naturally believe in my future self. I learned early that "later" actually means "later," not "never."
But a lot of people weren't so lucky.
If you grew up hearing "we'll do it tomorrow" and tomorrow never came, or "save your money" then watching adults spend impulsively, your brain learned a different lesson: take the good thing now because later might not come.
That programming is still running in your adult brain, even though your circumstances have completely changed.
The breakthrough moment was realizing that before you can master delayed gratification, you need to rebuild trust. First with yourself.
Most life coaches skip this part completely. They jump straight to willpower and discipline without addressing the foundation: Do you actually trust that delayed gratification will pay off?
If the answer is no, then no amount of willpower will work long-term.
So here's the system I've developed over the past few years. It's not perfect, but it works way better than relying on willpower alone:
Step 1: Rebuild Trust With Yourself
Start with tiny promises you can keep 100% of the time.
Not "I'll work out every day." Start with "I'll do 5 push ups every Tuesday."
Not "I'll save €500 this month." Start with "I'll spend less this week."
The goal isn't the money or the push ups. The goal is proving to yourself that when you make a commitment, you keep it.
After a month of keeping micro promises, your brain starts to believe that delayed gratification actually works. Because you have evidence.
Step 2: Track The Compound Effect
I created a simple spreadsheet that shows me what my small daily choices add up to over time.
5€ daily coffee over 30 years = 54.750€
One hour of doomscrolling daily over a year = 365 hours (9 full work weeks).
Skipping the gym twice a week = 104 missed workouts per year.
When you see the math on paper, the choices become obvious.
Why this works: Your brain struggles with compound thinking. Making it visual helps you actually see what seemingly small choices cost you over time.
Step 3: Do A Full Life Audit (With My Template)
This is the big one. You can't make good choices if you don't know what you're choosing between.
I created a document called "Dustin's Future" that walks through every area of life:
How do you want to look, speak, and be perceived? Why?
What do you want your average day to look like down to the details? Why?
Your 3 month, 1 year, and 10 year goals
Once you get clear on what you actually want, choosing between the couch and the gym becomes easy. One gets you closer to your vision, one doesn't.
Why this works: Most people are making choices without clarity on what they're working towards. When you know where you're going, the path becomes obvious.
I'll drop the full template at the end for anyone who wants to do this exercise themselves.
The Long Game
Look, I'm still figuring this out. Today proved I haven't mastered this by any stretch.
But here's what I know for sure: every time you choose what you want most over what you want now, you get a little closer to the life you actually want to build.
And every time you don't, you learn something about what triggers you to make impulsive choices.
The compound effect works both ways.
Small good choices compound into an amazing life. Small bad choices compound into a life you're trying to escape.
Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life.
The math is simple. The execution is hard.
But once you understand that it's not about discipline, it's about trust, everything changes.
Start building that trust today. Start small. Be patient with yourself.
Your future self is counting on you.
Thanks for reading.
WeWill+
P.S. Here's that life audit template I mentioned:
https://app.kortex.co/public/document/865645f0-950f-458f-859e-3917996e00a5
Use it to get crystal clear on what you're actually working towards.
