"The entire world was created only for my sake" (Sanhedrin 37a). Rabbi Nachman of Breslov takes this teaching at face value: if the world exists for you, then you are responsible for improving it.
This responsibility plays out through prayer. But Rabbi Nachman distinguishes two modes of prayer depending on timing. Before a harsh decree has been issued in the heavenly court, you can pray openly, following the regular liturgy. But after the decree, the prayers must be disguised within stories, so that the accusing angels on the left side cannot understand them and protest. As the Book of Daniel says, "The verdict is decreed by the destroying angels, and the request is through the maamar of the holy ones" (Daniel 4:14). The tzaddik (a righteous person)im (the righteous) hide their petitions inside narratives.
How do you know whether the decree has already been issued? By the quality of your mitzvot (commandments). If you perform commandments with such overwhelming joy that you desire no reward whatsoever, not even the bliss of the World to Come, if the only thing you want is the opportunity to perform another mitzvah, then you can see reality clearly, like Moses who prophesied through a "clear looking-glass." This corresponds to zeh hadavar (זה הדבר), "this is the word" (Numbers 30:2).
But if you perform mitzvot for the sake of future reward, you are seeing through a "dull looking-glass," the level of koh (כה), "thus," which was the level of all other prophets. You are looking at something from a distance, performing the deed now for payment later.
The person who does a mitzvah purely for the mitzvah itself has already tasted the World to Come. They do not need to wait. The joy of the act is the reward, and from that vantage point they can see clearly whether the heavenly court has already ruled, and adjust their prayers accordingly.