I’ve seen one thing attention-grabbing about duties folks keep away from. The issues we procrastinate on are sometimes the identical issues that matter most for our long-term success. It’s as if we’re wired to sabotage ourselves.
This isn’t a brand new commentary, in fact. Individuals have been procrastinating because the daybreak of time. What’s attention-grabbing is why we do it, and extra importantly, how we’d hack our brains to cease.
Right here’s a thought experiment: Think about your future self, possibly 10 years from now. Now think about that future you might ship a message again in time in regards to the activity you’re at the moment avoiding. What would they are saying?
It’s a easy query, however it cuts to the center of why we procrastinate. Our brains are actually unhealthy at connecting our current selves with our future selves. When neuroscientists take a look at mind scans, they discover that we take into consideration our future selves in the identical approach we take into consideration strangers.
This disconnect results in what economists name “temporal discounting.” We worth fast rewards excess of future ones, even when the longer term rewards are objectively higher. It’s why we select to observe one other episode on Netflix as a substitute of engaged on that aspect mission that would change our profession.
However right here’s the attention-grabbing half: we are able to hack this method. By actively imagining our future selves and connecting with them emotionally, we are able to bridge this psychological hole.
Right here’s a easy hack to attempt:
- Spend 5 minutes writing a letter out of your future self to your current self. Make it as vivid as attainable. What does your life appear to be? What have you ever achieved? Most significantly, what would this future you say in regards to the activity you’re at the moment avoiding?
- Now, write a response out of your current self again to your future self. Ask questions. Categorical your fears. Be sincere about why you’re procrastinating.
- Swap again to your future self and reply once more. Hold this dialogue going for so long as it’s productive.
This train would possibly really feel a bit bizarre at first. That’s okay. The purpose isn’t to foretell the longer term precisely. It’s to create an emotional connection together with your future self.
One factor that turns into clear once you do that train is the compounding impact of small actions over time. Your future self is aware of one thing that’s straightforward to overlook within the day-to-day grind: these small duties you’re avoiding now can have huge penalties down the road.
That is true in virtually each area. In programming, it could be refactoring that messy piece of code now versus coping with an enormous ball of mud later. In enterprise, it could possibly be having that troublesome dialog with a co-founder now versus letting resentment construct up over years. In private life, it could be going for a run at this time versus coping with well being points a decade from now.
The duties we procrastinate on are sometimes those that don’t have fast payoffs however have big long-term implications. By connecting with our future selves, we are able to convey these long-term penalties into the current and encourage ourselves to behave.
There’s an analogy right here to startups. Good founders are obsessive about the longer term. They’re all the time pondering a number of strikes forward, imagining what their firm may change into. In a way, they’re in fixed dialogue with their firm’s “future self.”
We will apply the identical precept to our private lives. Deal with your self like a startup. Your current self is the founder, and your future self is the profitable firm you’re attempting to construct. What does that future appear to be? What small actions can you are taking now to make it a actuality?
This method modifications how we take into consideration productiveness. It’s not about cramming extra duties into every day. It’s about figuring out the small variety of actions that can have the largest long-term influence and truly doing them.
Generally, the best factor you are able to do is to take a stroll and assume deeply about the place you need to be in 10 years. Different occasions, it’s forcing your self to sit down down and try this one activity you’ve been avoiding for weeks.
Right here’s a problem: For the subsequent week, begin every day with a five-minute dialog together with your future self. Ask them what’s crucial factor you might do at this time. Then do it.
You could be stunned at how this small hack can change your habits. It’s not about willpower or self-discipline. It’s about altering your perspective and bringing the longer term into the current.
Ultimately, the easiest way to foretell the longer term is to create it. And the easiest way to create it’s to begin with the small actions you’re avoiding proper now. Your future self will thanks.
