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When I First Met My Future Self

When I was in the 6th grade, we had to calculate what age we’d be in the year 2000. It was a math problem, of course.

I learned that I would be 33 years old in the year 2000.

My 11 year-old-self thought that was ancient. It was the first time I met up with an idea of myself in the future. My future self.

I couldn’t relate to that future self in any way. That person was a stranger to me.

All I could grasp was a far-off idea of some dorky non-person in Jetson’s clothing. (1)

I couldn’t imagine what I’d look like, what I’d feel like, what my life would be like. It was a cold trail. And 33 was so old, it felt scary to me.

I couldn’t imagine myself beyond my upcoming teen years.

Eventually my 33-year-old future self did became a reality in jeans, with real boobs, a real job, and a real boyfriend.

Who knew she’d also still have a real hankering for Taco Bell?

Anyway, at the time, my 11-year-old self didn’t care, didn’t know who she was, and didn’t have an interest in pleasing her. “Go away 33-year-old me! I don’t want to think about you or your needs.”

Such a shame. We could have been friends.

Why Connecting with Your Future Self Moves the Needle

Getting to know your future self can help you persist on your goals and dreams.

Small consistent steps in the right direction often lead to great gains.

Some examples…

Drink a Starbucks latte every day? Instead, invest the money in mutual funds to earn roughly half a million dollars to give to your future self in 50 years. (2)

20 minutes of moderate exercise a day will lower your risk of a giant list of health issues. It will also help your future self feel happier. (3) (4)

Writing 2500 words a week can get you to a novel in under a year.

You know…the one with the working title “50 shades of brown; the secret lives of slugs.”

It’s not out of reach, but the work has to get done so your future-self can have bragging rights.

When you connect with your future self, you can feel up to the daily work that will make an impact tomorrow.

When I ask you to imagine your happy future self, does that motivate you yet?

It didn’t used to motivate me, but now it does.

How to Use Your Future Self (And Past Self) For Success

Let me tell you how I got in touch with my future self.

And how I use my past self for an additional push towards daily success.

Each year I start out with a list of goals I’m hoping to reach by the end of the year.

Toward the end of last year, I revisited my list of goals and realized I only finished half of what I’d been aiming for.

And I only had a couple of weeks to get it all done. That wasn’t going to happen.

Dang.

To say I was bummed was an understatement. I was suffocating under the weight of a thousand tiny daily regrets. (5)

Regrets of not turning off youtube videos. Regrets of re-checking my texts. Regrets of staying in overlong conversations with door-to-door salespeople. Regrets of reheating my tea a million times (just drink the d*mn thang!).

I had some very understandable excuses, but I still wished I’d put more time in throughout the year. I wish I’d procrastinated less.

This January, I was a little more careful about what goals I wrote down for the upcoming year.

I didn’t want to set so many that would be impossible to reach.

And I also realized I could use the pain I’d experienced to keep me on track.

And I imagine my future self beaming with happiness and satisfied at the progress for the year.

Now, when I start slacking off, I reflect back to the pain (Thank you past-self!) and think forward to the satisfaction (Thank you future-self!).

This helps to keep me on track!

When I imagine my future self looking at my “finished” list in eleven months, I want my future self to feel a sense of glee.

I want to be a real ally to my future self on an hourly basis.

The Secret to Making This Concept Work

The secret to making this work is to imagine a future-self that is not too far in the future.

Imagining yourself in 20 years, 10 years or even as little as 5 may be still too far in the future. You don’t know what will be happening in your life.

You don’t know where you’ll be living, who you’ll be hanging out with, or what job you’ll be doing.

Or if you’ll still be watching Hasan Minaj videos. (6)

It’s hard to relate.

But, your future self in a single year is probably not that different from who you are right now, right? You can take some pretty good guesses who that person is and what that person wants out of life.

You know that person will probably still stop to talk with dogs, brush their teeth for a minute-and-a-half, and crave a midnight dip into the peanut butter jar.

Your twelve-month-older future self is easy to relate to.

You can imagine what they might feel if they made it to their goal of running a mile without stopping.

You can imagine what they might feel if they learned how to make that ceramic pot.

You can imagine what they might feel if they finally launched their new lickable line of nail-polish (I’ll take peanut butter-n-jelly flavor please!).

My Future Self Loves My Current Self!

My future self is going to feel more energetic because my current self is exercising.

My future self is going to feel safer because my current self moves money into a savings account every week.

My future self is going to be happy that I said “I love you” to my friends and family whenever I could.

Because you never know what the days ahead will bring.

And my future self will feel more satisfaction in a year-long goal list that is complete or close to it.

Even more than pleasing my future self, I wish to avoid the pain my future self will feel if disappointed with my performance this year. My past-self helps me remember how bad it felt.

That gentle negative pressure is real and very helpful.

Future Self Research Backs Up the Future Self Model

If you think all of this is a little woo-woo, check this out.

Hal E Hershfield has done studies on the concept of the future self. Science says that visualizing your future self works! It help motivate you to do good things for that future you. (7)

In his study, Hershfield says that sticking to the close future is best for results.

If you want a boost on very long-term goals, he also did a study that shows that looking at an enhanced photograph of your older future self is helpful.

Weird, but cool.

I get it.

If you can see yourself in the future as a real person, that you can please or disappoint, then social pressure manages your present day choices.

Let’s All Ask Our Future Selves for a High Five

I’m hoping my future-self will be thrilled with all the work I’m going to put in this year.

Am I going to be perfect in making my future self happy? No way.

But I still hope to make my future self proud of me, and I hope they’ll want to give me a hug or a high five. All it takes is doing this one year at a time!

Live Juicy, Joybird!