Fortunately, how we balance the trade-offs between short- and long-term outcomes is not hardwired into our genes. Delaying gratification and making optimal intertemporal decisions is a process that benefits immensely from practice, education, deliberation, and simply stopping to think about the future. Studies show, for example, that temporal discounting rates can be extended—shifted from impulsive to more patient decisions—by having people engage in mental time travel as they make decisions.
