It’s the year 2073, I’m doing a 3 minute keynote (because we’ve all lost the ability to focus), World War 3 has been and gone, smart phones, cash and credit cards are all extinct, and cars are driverless. There’s no fish left in the sea and climate refugees are a real thing. What’s changed and what messages do we still need now more than ever?

This was a concept I was playing with lately (you can see the clip here) and it got me thinking about future me.

If I do make it to 90, what would I look back on and be proud of? What would I wish I’d done differently and what message would I like to give to current me?

We’re living longer now and longevity will reshape our traditional life phases. I may well be still doing keynotes at 90 and so I’m thinking about what the next phase of my life will look like in what traditionally we’d term ‘retirement’. How the world may have changed and what problems we might need to be solving.

It also makes me think of how we get there in one piece too! If we live and work longer by the time we reach that traditional third stage of life, how do we sustain the energy to get there? Mid-life sabbaticals are something I wrote about on my 1 News work life balance column and certainly are an emerging trend in this new longevity life phase.

I’m fascinated by this concept of future us. The things we do now that future you will appreciate, the message future you would like to tell you today. Every choice we make is a vote for future you or as James Clear put it “Every action you take is a vote towards the person you want to become”.

So my invitation to you is what message does future you have and are we listening? What action can you take today that future you will thank you for?