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Comment by teiferer | Hacker News Reader

> If they die tomorrow, will you look back and say that today was good? Did you do everything you could do with your dog? If not go do those things right now don’t leave them undone

Sorry, life doesn't work that way. You are essentially saying, screw long-term planning, do right here right now what's best at this moment. If everybody did that, they'd be broke latest a year from now. Thereare things that I do, quite regularly, that I wouldn't do if this was the last day of my life. But I have to assume it is not, otherwise my life would collapse and I would pretty quickly be very restricted in what I could do in my life.

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I think that you will fully misinterpreted what I wrote. Sorry maybe that is not fair. Assuming good intent. Let me expand what I was thinking: You should still do long-term planning and use that to decide how you will stay present. Nothing I wrote precludes you from doing long-term planning and incorporating that in your day-to-day living and staying present. I am not suggesting that you turn into a hedonistic animal that cannot think beyond two days into the future. I am saying that once you know what you should be doing you should be doing those things without question as they are the things you decided we’re right. That can be long-term and short-term.

> I am saying that once you know what you should be doing you should be doing those things without question as they are the things you decided we’re right.

Thanks for the clarification.

Though I still don't agree. Of course you should question sometimes. Regular reflection is important to realize whether your plans are still the right course of action. Otherwise you'll never course correct.

I don't think we disagree. I'm just outlining a narrow aspect of how I like to operate. I meditate and spend a lot of time thinking about philosophy and neuroscience and cognition. It is a very introspective and contemplative practice. I don't ever assume that I have it all figured out, but I do always make sure that I have a plan for the day and that I just stay focused on that. And there are a lot of easier to sort things. Time with family, time with dogs, work, so on and so forth. It is not like I assume that I have figured it all out. I also get feedback from others that I trust as they understand how I work, etc. I have been meditating for over a decade, so I'm pretty good at shutting down the self-narrative and just being. It makes a lot of things more clear when all of the noise is turned off. What I do want is at the end of the day, after all of the alignment and processing, that I know what I wanted to accomplish in the day, and that I did those things, and that those were the right things to do that day. Maybe I course correct the next day, or even during the day, but I set out with a clear intention of what I want to have accomplished in the day. And that is rooted by breaking down a multi-year plan into month, week, and day blocks even. It isn't rigid. If I need to change it, I will. But plans are always worth having, even if they have to course correct, as nothing ever stays quite how you want once it reaches contact with reality.

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