10 Things You’ll Regret Not Doing Now in Five Years
Five years sounds like a lifetime—until you realize 2021 was five years ago and you’re still wondering where your “productive” era went. Time has a funny way of moving slowly in the moment but disappearing in the rearview mirror.
If you want to high-five your future self in 2031 rather than sending them a mental apology note, here are ten things you should start doing today.
1. Investing in “Maintenance” (Health)
We’re not just talking about hitting the gym until you see abs. We’re talking about the boring, unglamorous stuff: regular dental check-ups, wearing SPF every single day, and drinking enough water that your skin doesn’t feel like parchment paper.
Why it matters: Five years of neglect doesn’t just result in a “bad day”; it results in cumulative damage that is expensive and painful to fix. Think of your body like a car. You can either pay for the oil change now or a whole new engine later. Developing a mobility routine or a consistent sleep schedule today ensures that “Future You” can actually move without making “old person noises” every time they stand up.
2. Taking the “Bad” Photos
In five years, you won’t care that your hair was messy, that your outfit was “so 2026,” or that you had a breakout in that vacation photo. You’ll only care that the photo exists.
Why it matters: We live in an era of curated perfection, but perfection is boring to look back on. Start capturing the mundane moments—the messy kitchen while you’re cooking with friends, the blurry dog photos, and the candid laughs. These “bad” photos carry the actual scent and feel of your life. Future You will value the messy reality of a Tuesday afternoon far more than a staged, filtered Instagram post.
3. Automating Your Savings (Even Small Amounts)
Compound interest is basically magic, but it requires the one thing we can’t buy: time. If you wait five years to start saving, you aren’t just losing sixty months of deposits; you’re losing the exponential growth those deposits would have generated.
Why it matters: Even if it’s just $25 a week, setting it to auto-transfer means that in five years, you have a safety net rather than a “how am I going to pay for this?” panic attack. Automating it removes the “decision fatigue.” When the money is gone before you even see it, you don’t miss it—but you’ll definitely notice the five-figure cushion you’ve built half a decade from now.
4. Learning the “Useless” Skill
Want to learn basic woodworking? Coding? How to bake a perfect sourdough? Do it now. We often talk ourselves out of hobbies because they aren’t “productive” or “profitable,” but that’s a trap.
Why it matters: In five years, you could be an expert. If you don’t start today, you’ll just be five years older wishing you knew how to fix a cabinet or build an app. Engaging your brain in novel challenges prevents cognitive stagnation and makes you a more interesting person. Plus, today’s “useless” hobby often becomes tomorrow’s side hustle or greatest source of stress relief.
5. Prioritizing “High-Quality” People
We often spend far too much energy trying to “fix” toxic dynamics or impress people we don’t even like. Social obligation is a heavy weight to carry for five years.
Why it matters: Your “circle” naturally thins out as you get older. Start focusing on the friends who actually show up for you now—the ones who energize you rather than drain you. Deepening those roots today ensures a sturdy support system later. Five years of investing in three great friends is infinitely better than five years of maintaining fifty lukewarm acquaintances.
6. Taking your body seriously before it demands your attention
My uncle was a banker who worked 14-hour days and ate his meals at his desk. “I’ll start exercising when things slow down,” he always said. Things never slowed down. At 47, a minor cardiac event slowed everything down for him — involuntarily and indefinitely.
The doctors told him he wasn’t in bad shape — he was in average shape. And average shape, for a man his age under his level of stress, wasn’t good enough. He cried, not because he was afraid to die, but because he realized he had ignored so many mornings that could have been different.
7. Being here, right now, more often than you are
This is the hardest one. And the most important.
We are living in one of the most distraction-rich environments in human history. The phone is designed — at enormous expense and expertise — to pull your attention away from where you are and toward a scroll. It does this well. It is winning.
In five years, you will not regret the Instagram posts you didn’t check. You will regret the dinners where you were technically present but actually elsewhere. The conversations half-listened to. The sunsets glanced at and scrolled past. The child who asked you a question and got a distracted “mm-hmm” when they deserved your face.
8. Traveling While You Have This Specific Energy
Your energy levels, health, and life responsibilities are in a constant state of flux. The trip you can take today—with your current knees, your current budget, and your current freedom—is not the same trip you’ll take in five years.
Why it matters: Don’t wait for the “perfect” budget or the “perfect” time; those are myths. Go to the weird roadside attraction, the overseas city, or the national park now. Traveling isn’t just about the destination; it’s about the perspective shift it provides. The memories and stories you gather today will be the “internal cinema” you play back for the rest of your life.
9. Calling the people you keep meaning to call
We’ve all experienced it: the friend whose number you scroll past and think, “I should reach out,” but don’t, because life is busy and surely there’s time. There is time until there isn’t.
My closest friend from university moved to Canada in 2019. We texted occasionally. Then monthly. Then I saw his wedding photos on Instagram, shared by someone else. I hadn’t even known she was engaged. Six years of distance had eroded what four years of proximity had built. I reached out. It was warm but careful — the warmth of strangers who used to know each other very well.
10. Starting Before You’re Ready
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”
Whether it’s starting a business, a fitness journey, or writing that book you keep talking about, the “perfect moment” is a mirage that recedes as you approach it.
Why it matters: Growth is messy and the beginning is always the hardest part. If you start today—messily, imperfectly, and slowly—you will be five years into your journey by the time 2031 rolls around. Imagine where you could be if you just did the first 1% of the work today. Future You is begging you to just get the “Year One” mistakes out of the way now.
The future is made of today’s small decisions
Five years is both a long time and no time at all. Long enough for habits to compound, relationships to deepen, skills to develop — or for all of these to quietly erode. The question isn’t whether you have time. You do. The question is what you do with it, starting now.
Pick one thing from this list. Just one. Do one concrete thing toward it today — however small. Not tomorrow. Not after you finish the next thing. Now.
