In a recent podcast session on Smart Passive Income, the host Pat Flynn, invited author Dr. Benjamin Hardy to talk about writing on Medium and Ben’s new book, Personality isn’t Permanent. One of the interesting things Dr. Hardy noted is that people don’t act for their future selves. We tend to undervalue the change (whether positive or negative) in the future. We forget that our experiences and what we do will change us.
Dr. Hardy’s book makes a case for not looking at yourself from just one personality. When you do that your goals become a product of your current view of your personality, rather than your personality becoming a product of the goals you want to pursue.
He advocates not labeling yourself otherwise you box your future into a corner.
I appreciate this point of view because you can intentionally design your future self into any form you want. This opens your life to a myriad of possible future selves.
Also, even if you have particular strengths now, you can not only use those strengths but also work on your weaknesses.
But, working on yourself requires you to have some vision of your future self.
So define the characteristics of this future version of yourself. Start with the future you tomorrow. What would that future you will be doing or feeling that is congruent with your goals? Maybe your future you might be feeling lighter than today instead of the typical heaviness. Or maybe your future you will be writing an article.
Once you have the vision of at least the near future you, decide on what you of now and today need to practice today to get to the near future you.
To feel lighter tomorrow you may choose to not eat junk food but have a delicious salad for dinner instead. Or, if you are writing an article tomorrow, you might choose to outline and research the article today.
Thinking of your future self and how you will act now for yourself is one way we can beat procrastinating on our dreams and goals. Think of who you are in the future and act like your future self now. Those actions when compounded daily will bring the current version of yourself in alignment with that future vision.
