If you want to get better at saving for retirement, taking care of your physical health, strengthening your mind, or brushing your teeth consistently…you may just need to meet your future self. Here’s a funny thing about people: most of us think of our future selves as strangers. And, when the 80-year-old us is an abstraction, we are less likely to do things now that are good for our future welfare. Would you floss for a stranger? Not likely.
Here’s why this matters: there is compelling research that shows that people who have more connection to their future selves...
👉🏼 have less debt, more wealth
👉🏼 procrastinate less
👉🏼 have more ethical behavior at work
👉🏼 have better health
So how can you be one of those people? It's simple: get to know the future you.
Here’s a way to practice making that connection:
1️⃣ Visualize yourself as an older person at a specific moment in time. Where do you live, what does your home look like (walk around in it), what do you look like, what are you wearing? What does it feel like to be in your presence? Explore until you get a strong, detailed picture. Then have a conversation with the future you. Learn more about them. Ask anything you want. Questions like “How can I get to where I am to where you are?” or “What’s something you’d like me to know?” can bring up interesting, often wise, responses.
2️⃣ After making that first connection, you can then build a relationship with the older version of yourself over time. Think of them as the wise guide who has been there and done that, and check in with them when you need them. In moments of challenge, ask, “What do you want me to know?”. You may get some wisdom to help you in the here and now. You’ll also strengthen your neural connection to the future you.
This may sound “woo-woo”, but efforts to build a connection to the future you, even if imagined, will positively affect your behavior today—and there is science to back it up. When people see digitally aged images of themselves, for example, they are more likely to save for retirement. I’ve done the future self visualization exercise above myself, and with my coaching clients, and it’s surprisingly powerful. My future self is a pretty cool chick with a great white-haired bob and a calm demeanor, and I darn well want her to be healthy, sharp, financially secure, and to have all her teeth. 😁
Try it. What have you got to lose?