Be Your Future Self Now: The Science of Intentional Transformation

by Benjamin P. Hardy

The advertising industry plays off our fears to sell us products. Grief has to do with the past, but fear, as we ordinarily experience it, is of the future. Fear is emotionally experienced in everyday life by the average person as worry, anxiety, or panic . . . Fear is a stinkingness and a fear of the future.31

In all instances, humans act as we do based on the future we see for ourselves. That may be a future we’re trying to avoid, or a future we’re trying to create.

By our nature as rational, conscious creatures, we cannot help but think of the future. But most people, out of fear, limit their view of the future to a narrow range.

What about you? If your Future Self—20 years from now—had a conversation with you, what would they say? How would your Future Self view your current situation? How differently would you act with your Future Self in mind?

In Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl shared Friedrich Nietzsche’s words, “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”

The most fundamental threat to a person’s Future Self is not the loss of freedom but the absence of purpose and meaning.

As Viktor Frankl put it: Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

Hershfield found a direct correlation between the level of connection you have with your Future Self and the quality of your decisions right now.

Your time is the clearest indicator of your commitment. You can’t hide how you spend your time.

Once you commit to your Future Self, you’ll be required to be courageous. Choosing freedom over security is an act of courage.