Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present
What does the author mean by saying 'design for the future'?
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Please only ask *one* question in a single post. Your second question here (the "Also" stuff) is probably a duplicate of “I only teach you” vs. “I teach only you” vs. “I teach you only.” Your first question concerns an utterance that's primarily about "playing with language" rather than clearly expressing a logically coherent idea. The author probably means you should try to be happy *now* rather than endure current misery in hopes that you'll be even happier at some point in the future, but the language used is inherently vague. – FumbleFingers Feb 25 '20 at 14:03
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I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's asking three completely unrelated questions (1: the meaning of a quirky stylised "aphorism", 2: the position of "only", 3: which preposition to use after "email"). – FumbleFingers Feb 25 '20 at 14:08
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Actually I thought of posting them as separate questions but I could post the other question only after 40 mins, thus posted them at once – Hrushi Feb 25 '20 at 14:41
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However, I am grateful for your answer and would ensure that from next time, I would take care of posting multiple questions separately. – Hrushi Feb 25 '20 at 14:56
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I didn't know about that time limit, but it's been over an hour now, so I suggest you edit your current text to remove the second and third items, and *re-post* the second question if my link doesn't clear things up for you (if it does, you can immediately repost the *3rd* question, otherwise you'll just have to wait a little longer). – FumbleFingers Feb 25 '20 at 14:57
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The cited text is primarily wordplay, rather than clear communication of an idea. But my guess is the writer was just trying to find a "clever" way of saying what many others have expressed as...
Live for the present, not the future (that's a lot of written instances in Google Books)
...the meaning of which I hope I don't need to explain.
Some people may think OP's cited example is "well phrased" (or at least, "clever"), but I don't like it much, because the verb form to design inherently implies making a plan for the future. So the only way to make sense of designing for the present as somehow being the "opposite" of postponing one's (future) happiness is to suppose it means make plans to achieve happiness as soon as possible in the future.
Strictly speaking I doubt design is really a suitable verb for what the writer is trying to say. It's true that he might be advising us to design / plan our lives with the intention of being happy in the very near future (which is almost the same as "the present").
But most likely he's advising us to find / take pleasure / happiness in our current circumstances. Sometimes that's just a matter of having an optimistic attitude (look on the bright side; see your glass as "half full" rather than "half empty"). Other times it's a matter of making particular choices (indulge yourself and spend your money now, rather than saving it and waiting until you're too old and decrepit to enjoy it).
FumbleFingers
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