Your-Next and Your-Now cannot get divorced

​

One great thing about life is that, in most cases, if two people can't get along together, they can solve the problem by going separate ways.

​

Not so with your Now and your Next. These two are conjoined for life, as they should be. Your Now is responsible for enjoying now and avoiding pain or discomfort now. Your Next is in charge of your future being good. 

​​

​

Are Your-Now and Your-Next friends or foes?

​

Yet, as it turns out, the most fundamental problem of humanity is that these two are often at odds with each other. 

​

• Now wants to eat for pleasure; Next wants to lose weight and eat for health.

• Now wants to watch some TV or play on the mobile; Next wants to get to the gym.

• Now wants to sleep late; Next wants to get up early and get the day planned.

• Now is waiting for 5 pm to arrive; Next wants to focus on the job.

• Now wants to go with the flow; Next wants to set goals, make plans, and follow through on things.

• Now wants caffeine, grass, alcohol, or even something stronger to make him or her feel better; Next doesn't think it's a good idea to rely on these drugs.

• At 3:12 am, even though you need to pee, Now wants to stay in bed a bit longer; Next says, "Get up a pee and get it over with so you can back to sleep."

• Now feels like snapping at his or her spouse for what they just did; Next is aware of how that's likely to create an even bigger problem.

• Now wants to chill out; Next knows we should study for the upcoming exam.

​

See Common Now-Next conflicts

​​

​

Neither truly wins in the battles between Now and Next

​

This perennial conflict is taken for granted by everyone, most often portraying Now as the bad guy ("I'm just lazy") and Next as the good guy ("I should get to the gym now").

​

And, as in all wars, where neither side can be wiped out, no matter whether Now or Next "wins" any particular battle, that win has one part of you losing (thereby you're always losing). And then the other side will resurface and maybe be the "winner" next time.

​​

​

Creating peace and cooperation between Now and Next

​

Both Your-Now and Your-Next are trying to do essential things for you. You need them both. It's time to create peace and cooperation between the two. To the extent that you solve this issue, all other problems are small by comparison. To understand most fully the origin of this conflict, check out the portion of the Life Tutorial called Now and Next. To learn how to create peace and cooperation between Now and Next, go to the NNI toolkit.