Podcaster Stresses Living in the Future Instead of the Past

Personal development coach Rob Dial has a successful podcast titled Mindset Mentor.  Four days a week he spends about 20 minutes on various topics relating to success, motivation and self-improvement.  On a recent show he discussed how too many people allow their pasts to dictate their present outlook and behavior, consequently holding them back from success.  Instead, he proposes that we project ourselves into the future...Dial suggests about 10 years ahead...and visualize the kind of person we want to become. Consequently, we would be tackling the kinds of life situations we are experiencing in the present based on that future vision of ourselves. In other words, get the brain to go into the future instead of the past when determining our actions.  This sounds a little counterintuitive to me, especially since the same podcaster has in past episodes stressed living in the present moment, with the past and future only representing abstractions instead of reality.  But it's a good habit to have a sense of direction in life and taking some time and effort to know what person I want to become.  James Clear's book Atomic Habits lays a similar foundation when he stresses "becoming" over "goals" as a guide for eliminating bad habits and growing into new ones.  For me, at age 65 I have a long span of memories that I can let negatively influence what I undertake now, and, yes, projecting myself into the future and letting that vision guide me sounds reasonable.  On the other hand, and Rob Dial acknowledges this to an extent, I didn't get to where I am today by dismissing my past experiences wholesale: memory is an important survival mechanism.  So, as with so many other things, this comes down to discernment and a sense of balance...