Where do you see yourself in ten years? For such a cliché interview question, I have been asked this very rarely. Incredibly, the only time I remember having to answer this was back when I desperately wanted to be in the army; sadly a possibility that has now passed me by. However, thinking about this question is paramount to long term success. Even the smallest habit you exhibit could have disastrous consequences.
Ten years is a long time. Too long, even. It would be unreasonable to expect people to think this far ahead. After all, it's easy to justify (for example) a diet infraction: if you're peckish, you want to eat. In the moment we know of the long term consequences, but we trick ourselves into believing their helplessness in the matter. Ten years later, imagine how much fitter you could have been, had you simply thought about it a little longer.
This behaviour is very harmful; we train ourselves not to be responsible, but to seek solace in short-term pleasure. Instead of disciplined we become mere servants to our animalistic instincts. One can not call themselves whole if they do not have control over their impulses. If you were to insist otherwise, you are simply delusional.
To achieve this control, it is vital we determine what impulses are justified and which should be quelled. The difficulty of this should not be understated; are you really improving the right processes in your life? For example, I don't blame myself if I get exhausted from physical or mental exercise (read: work). I simply consider these to be unavoidable. This makes me a complete and utter hypocrite.
Although I could work more on my physical fitness, instead I delude myself and insist that I like things the way they are. It is trivial to imagine what my life would be like in ten years if I simply committed to going to the gym a couple of hours per week, and instead I choose not to.
What gives?