What Your Future Self Wants You To Know Today
Most people don't lack answers. They lack permission to trust what they already know.
Originally sent in From the Desk of Justin Hubbard on December 3, 2025.
The short version: When you're stuck on a decision, picture yourself decades from now looking back and ask: will I regret doing this, or will I regret not doing it? Use the Regret Filter, choose one decision, and decide on it today.
There's a question I keep coming back to whenever I feel myself stuck between options or circling the same decision for too long:
Where will you be a year from now if you finally make the decisions you keep putting off?
A good phrase I like to remind myself of, almost daily: progress is hiding behind the things you refuse to do.
Every owner has those decisions. Something they refuse to acknowledge and get done. These avoidances follow you from job to job. They show up when you're loading a truck at sunset or staring at your numbers late at night. You've thought about them, researched them, asked others about them… yet you still haven't moved.
And the strange thing is, most people don't lack answers. They lack permission to trust what they already know.
The Tool That Cuts Through the Noise
There's a mental model I use when I'm on the edge of a decision. It's called the Regret Filter.
Here's how it works:
- Picture yourself decades from now, looking back on the business you built.
- From that vantage point, revisit the decision that's freezing you right now.
- Ask yourself: Will I regret doing this? Or will I regret not doing it?
That's it. It's a different angle, and one that reveals what matters.
What This Looks Like in Real Life
When I've applied this filter to my own decisions (raising prices, expanding routes, hiring help, investing in marketing) the answer was almost always obvious. The fear didn't disappear, but the direction did. I realized I'd regret staying comfortable far more than I'd regret trying and adjusting.
And that's usually the truth for most of us:
- You already know your business can't grow if everything depends on you.
- You already know your pricing needs to match your workload.
- You already know your marketing needs to get serious before the next slow season hits.
- You already know the decision you're avoiding is the one holding you back.
You just haven't made the call yet in your head.
A Year From Now
Here's what it really comes down to for me:
Twelve months from today, you'll either be grateful you finally acted, or you'll be in the exact same place: thinking, researching, hesitating, doing what feels productive, doing what seems beneficial, but doesn't actually move you forward.
And the version of you who's looking back from ten, twenty, thirty years down the line?
He remembers the opportunities you stepped into… and the ones you let pass.
So Here's the Play
Use the Regret Filter. Choose one decision. Decide on it today.
Momentum doesn't come from certainty. Certainty will never exist.
It comes from movement. Move toward it.
And that movement is the difference between another year of "almost ready" and a year of forward progress.
— Justin
Related: Business decision-making for home services · Small business owner responsibility mindset · Small business discipline habits