If you are old enough to remember the 1980s, then you most likely remember a very particular interview with Nancy Reagan. The First Lady’s response to a question about what a young person should do when they are offered drugs consisted of three simple words. And those three little words became a slogan and an anthem for over ten years: “Just Say No.” If you went to school in the United States between the mid 80s and the mid 90s, you most likely heard “the Gospel of No” on a fairly frequent basis. Unfortunately, for all of the good intentions Mrs. Reagan had with her response (and its enduring message), it is ultimately a useless idea on its own.

The problem with the drug message of “saying no” is not actually a matter of being forced or pressured into doing much of anything (with the possible exception of thrill seeking, which can actually be less dangerous). For the most part, a person who is willing to share a drug is either a dealer who will ignore you for life after a no response, or an actual friend whose good intentions (to help you feel great, without charging you anything for it) mingle with a bad decision they have made. What happens to them later on in life is not up to you – but the problem is the “later on” part.

There is a wonderful book called “The Time paradox,” in which the authors argue that there are a few different places where a person’s thoughts can be: in the past, in the present, and in the future. If you have ever tried explaining to a child that if he exercises, he will most likely live longer and in better health, he will probably give you a blank stare. Young people tend to live in the moment – where the future is unimportant.

Have you ever noticed that some people are all about how things feel right this second? When they have money, they go out to shows, buy hot clothes, and eat delicious food… then they wonder why they get plump, and have to take out loans at ridiculous interest rates just to pay their bills, or when any kind of unexpected issue pops up. These are the people who pay to cash their checks at a liquor store, and who associate a sale at a store with how much they “saved,” instead of how much they had to spend in order to get these “savings.”

Is it any surprise that these people, who spend most of their lives “in the moment,” end up broke and depressed when the fun times are over with? These people never considered the idea that their actions might have long term consequences. And this is why all of the classes on saving, investing, waiting longer to have sex and avoiding the excessive use of alcohol and the use of illegal drugs are completely useless. From an investment perspective, money poured into trying to get people who live in the moment to think of the consequences of their actions are noble but futile efforts.

The people who think, “if I use drugs, I’ll either up end prematurely dead, broke or in prison” are the kind of people that our current anti-drug classes are designed for. These people don’t typically use drugs, anyway. What we are going to need to do, if there is to be any kind of change, is design anti-drug classes around people who live in the moment. We could talk about painful side effects of drugs – or actually encourage their use as “family time,” as a way to make them less of a “naughty” thrill. We need to do something that works.

Have you ever set a goal in your life? Have you ever set out to do something, and actually believed you could accomplish the thing you set out to do? And did you actually succeed at this goal you set for yourself? If you guessed that these have been trick questions, you are a pretty smart individual. After all, if you have ever wanted to go to the sink, fill a glass of water and take a drink of it, you have visualized a goal. And unless you have been very thirsty for a very long time, you most likely accomplished that goal.

But a goal is not just a one off thing, in most cases. While obviously, it does not take a large amount of time and effort to do something as small and mundane as picking up your keys and getting in the car – the daily drive to work does become something of a habit. And collecting a steady pay check is one of the great addictions in this world. So keep in mind that your goals will tend to turn into your addictions. You might also want to keep in mind that this is a very good thing, both for your benefit and the larger benefits to society as a whole.

Every time you set a goal for yourself that you can not accomplish in a hurry, you are essentially telling yourself to do something for a good, long while. And while some goals (like building a fence) might be knocked out over a weekend, many goals (like getting your dream job) can take years and years to get into. The little habits you keep up every day are what define you – and if these just happen to be habits that take you closer to a goal, that is awesome!