Cem Hurturk
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Letters to My Future Self: Today’s Decisions, Tomorrow’s Gifts

Letters to My Future Self: Today’s Decisions, Tomorrow’s Gifts

Dear Future Cem,

I’m writing this letter to you because I know how much you depend on me. My thoughts, actions, beliefs, and decisions today will shape your world tomorrow. It’s a big responsibility, and I’m doing my best to make choices that you’ll be thankful for.

Right now, I’m 45 years old. I’ve done a lot in my life, especially when it comes to work. I’ve started companies, made deals, and seen both successes and failures. But if I’m honest, there’s one thing I wish I had done differently: I wish I had taken better care of my health and strength. For too long, I let work take over everything. I didn’t make time for fun or for taking care of my body. But I’m lucky—I’m still pretty healthy, and for the last three years, I’ve been working hard to get even healthier. I want you, Future Cem, to be glad for the effort I’m putting in now.

Every time I make a decision, I think about how it will affect you. I ask myself if it’s going to make you upset or if it’s going to make you grateful. I imagine you at 80 years old, and I want you to be happy with the life I’ve lived. When we’re 80, the things that will really matter are our health, our family and friends, and being able to live freely, not depending on anyone else. All the stuff like fancy cars and big houses won’t mean much then. They seem important now, but they’re just distractions from what’s truly valuable.

I hope I’m making the right choices to build a good future for you. I’m trying to pick actions that will help, and I believe that if I do, things will turn out well for us.

Here’s to making decisions that will make both of us proud. I hope when you read this, you’ll see that I did my best for us.

Take care,

Cem Hurturk

February 13th, 2024

My Random Thoughts

Freedom Comes From Having Options

Freedom Comes From Having Options

Sitting in my new home in London, I reflect on how long it took to get here—and why that delay mattered. This post is about the power of having options in life, why mastery alone isn’t enough, and how real freedom comes from building your next move before you need it.

9/29/2025
Failing Is Human, Not a Flaw

Failing Is Human, Not a Flaw

We all fall behind sometimes—miss deadlines, lose motivation, or just feel off track. In a world that worships hustle, it’s easy to forget that failure is normal. In this post, I share four things that help me reset when I’m struggling: intention, action, resilience, and self-kindness. If you’ve been hard on yourself lately, this one’s for you.

9/22/2025
The Power of Starting Over

The Power of Starting Over

It’s interesting to see how people tend to give up only after their first try. Especially when they fail their first execution… I’m curious as to when this behavior is learned and became such a strict rule that it stops people from trying over and over again until they achieve their initial goal.

11/28/2022