Needs and desires ⇡

Future You have needs and desires. Undoubtedly, Future You will be a human being, and arguably a wiser, more nuanced and more capable one than you are. It means that Future You have great opportunities, unless you squander them. Present you also have needs and desires, and these are often at odds with those of Future You.

Balance ⇡

None of you two are inherently more important than the other. None of you should be satisfied with leftovers. It makes no sense to sacrifice yourself, you are important here and now. It would be really stupid to neglect Future You, since you will be it one day. You need to seek for the best for both of you, which requires finding a balance.

Mutual agreement ⇡

In order to find balance, you need to negotiate with Future You. Bargaining is one way, but being creative is even better. Come up with solutions that benefits you and Future You the most, and burdens you the least. Often you don't need to rush it, give yourself a little more time, maybe consult with others. A good idea might further your cause more than sacrifice. But bear in mind, some level of sacrifice will be needed at some point, so make sure your search for better solutions does not turn into procrastination. As you find a solution good enough, start implementing it.

Practice makes perfect ⇡

Don't assume you will get things right the first time. Future management is notoriously complex, and has many pitfalls. You can only hope to get better as you practice, and gradually make fewer and fewer mistakes. It should not deter you, and in fact mistakes should urge you to work even harder.

You are biased toward Present You ⇡

Of course, everyone is biased toward themselves. But it is especially important in this arrangement, because Future You is silent and passive, while you make all the decisions. It is surprisingly easy to lie to yourself, and Future You can't warn you about it. There is no silver bullet against such mishaps, it is inevitable that you will favor yourself unreasonably from time to time. Keep an eye out, and correct your behavior whenever you catch yourself.

Bias can manifest itself in unfair distribution of work. You might tend to give yourself too much leisure, and thus Future You will need to work overtime in a rush. It is stressful and leads to poor quality.

Bias can manifest itself in overspending and overconsumption, based on a questionable hope that Future You will sort it out somehow. Of course, there is no such thing in life as "somehow". Future You can only make up for the deficit with increased effort.

Overestimating your skills ⇡

Most tasks are many times more difficult than they look. Thus you might allocate way too few time and energy to those tasks, and then give up when you eventually face the true complexity of the subject. This is true for future management too. It is not only about if you manage your future, it is also about the practicality and techniques of it. Future management is an activity that needs resources, focus and effort. Organize yourself. Use the same techniques you use otherwise, project plans, diary, todo lists. Invest time, educate yourself, watch lectures, read books, think or meditate, discuss.

You don't know Future You ⇡

People change, and hopefully you will change too. Future You will not be the same person. Future You will have different values and a different world view. But since you have no other option, you have to guess, and you have to prepare.

It is a always a good idea to maximize the freedom of Future You. Putting Future You in a situation comes with the risk that Future You will not like that situation. Instead, focus on acquiring abilities and open up options. Abilities and options never hurt.

Avoid lock-ins the best you can. It is too tempting to treat Future You as a traitor of sacred values, a conformist that fails to carry the torch. You can set up fences and put chains on yourself to force Future You to keep working in line with your prescribed values. Abstain yourself from such efforts. If Future You becomes lazy and cynical, the worst tactic is to use coercion to correct it. Work on not being lazy and cynical, so Future You will be even more open and wise than you are. Then, you should trust Future You, more than your present self, to make good decisions.