Live for Now and Forever
I think you can think of your life in two different timeframes.
A part of you should live life for the now (and really be in the now, learn this via meditation). Be happy, strive for pleasure.
Another part of you should live for the future. It should assume that you live forever. That means you need to learn, retain that information, build your knowledge, relationships, and wealth.
Find a balance that works for you.
If you’re at one extreme, you’re addicted to heroin and working on getting the next hit.
If you’re at the other extreme, you’re busting your ass until you retire and find that you have wasted your life.
More Notes
This is not an original idea, so I should take some time to find other sources and possibly refine this idea.