When you do something that prepares you well for the future, it's your future self that reaps the benefits.
By that same token, when you do something that does not prepare you well for the future, it's your future self that has to deal with the consequences.
The person that decides to procrastinate on a project is the same person that will later find themselves struggling and stressing about the project's upcoming deadline.
The person that spends more money than they have during an evening in Vegas is the same person that will have to stress about reconciling their finances.
The things that we feel good about doing (or choosing not to do) in the present are not always in the best interest of our future selves.
One way to begin reconciling this difference would be to ask yourself: what would your future self want you — thank you — for doing today?
You and i chatted about this here and there. I remember mentioning how most of us can't feel the actual connection that exists between the different temporal versions of ourselves.
You have an updated theory?
If the goal is to survive long enough to send our genes into the future, we don't need to think very long term.
This is an incomplete perspective though that I need to spend more time filling in. I think a coffee chat in the future will help with this :P.