In 2012, I was in my fourth year working at a multinational bank. The job paid well, offered an attractive annual performance bonus, and promised career growth with international opportunities. Any logical person would have stayed. But I wasn’t feeling happy or content and wanted to explore and pivot my career into uncharted territory—entrepreneurship. Leaving my cushy job was unthinkable to my close family members, but I wanted to explore new possibilities, even though I hadn’t yet mustered the courage to take the leap.

Luckily, I came across a book by Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert, which had an indelible impact on my worldview. One particular paragraph from the book ‘Stumbling on Happiness’ struck a chord with me:

“We treat our future selves as though they were our children, spending most of the hours of most of our days constructing tomorrows that we hope will make them happy. Rather than indulging in whatever strikes our momentary fancy, we take responsibility for the welfare of our future selves…. we are expecting that if we get it, then the person who has our fingerprints a second, minute, day, or decade from now will enjoy the world they inherit from us, honoring our sacrifices as they reap the harvest of our shrewd investment decisions and dietary forbearance. We toil and sweat to give them just what we think they will like, and they quit their jobs, grow their hair, move to or from San Francisco, and wonder how we could ever have been stupid enough to think they’d like that.”

I think deeply about this quote whenever I’m on the verge of making important decisions. I often share it with young people, especially my colleagues. It’s crucial to be serious about our future, but not so serious that we avoid taking major risks. Our future selves will likely blame us for whatever decisions we make right now, so it’s imperative to stay biased toward action.

Our experiences change us, transform us, and enrich us as human beings with evolving ambitions and desires. It’s important to keep challenging our future selves by trying things that can potentially transform us and our society.

P.S. Fortunately, I don’t regret jumping ship all those years ago from my comfort zone.