The Stranger in the Future
Module 4 of 8, about 45 minutes. Why you don't care about future-you, and how to change that.
The question: Why don't you care about future-you?
What you'll learn
- Understand why your brain can treat your future self rather like another person, and the research behind it
- Recognise how the future self-continuity gap contributes to procrastination, poor financial decisions, and neglected wellbeing
- Tell the difference between abstract consequence-thinking and vivid future self-empathy, and why the second tends to work better
- Apply Hershfield's research-backed interventions to strengthen your connection with future-you
- Use future self letter-writing as a practical tool for shifting present-moment decision-making
- Develop a daily practice for maintaining future self-continuity without elaborate rituals
- Distinguish between guilt-based motivation (counterproductive) and empathy-based motivation (sustainable)
What it covers
- The Stranger Problem
- Why Future-You Gets the Short End
- The Cost of Disconnection
- Building the Bridge
- Living With a Time Horizon
Practise it
Future Self Letter: Write from future-you, to future-you, or both sides of a conversation. Every letter is kept for you to read back.