In this podcast Jordan talks to Benjamin Hardy, an organisational psychologist and author of books on willpower and why it doesn’t work, self limiting beliefs, teamwork and the pursuit of happiness. His latest release is Be Your Future Self Now: The Science of Intentional Transformation, which he discusses in this show.
Think about who you were ten years ago compared to who you are now. You are not the same person, although you might not have directed yourself to be who you are now intentionally. You just went through life, and here you are ten years later being who you are.
This could be said with every ten year difference you think about. So why not look ahead and think about who you want to be in ten years time, and make intentional steps to be that person now.
Most of us want to be a “better person”. It’s part of being human to always want to improve yourself. But it’s actually quite hard to think about who you will be in ten years time, primarily because our brains are not wired that way.
How I Started To Become My Future Self
When I began my life transformation journey in 2015, I had a vision of who I would be in 2025. I clearly defined what I wanted to achieve with regards to my health and career. I projected a vision in my head of who that person would be.
I then began putting steps in place to become that person with regards to my knowledge and education within the nutrition and fitness industry.
When I spoke to myself, or met new people, I was that person already. I had transplanted the vision of who I wanted to be, into who I am now.
I reminded myself daily of my goal. I put inspirational quotes where I would see them every day, with my favourites being:
- It is never too late to be what you might have been.
- Do today what others won’t, so you can do tomorrow what others can’t.
These are just small crutches to help you on your journey. But they helped me and still do. Because it is not easy to always be growing. To always work towards being more knowledgeable, stronger, compassionate and empathetic.
Sometimes it can be a lonely path. But that loneliness is always temporary as you discover more and more people trying to do similar things.
Never give up on who you want to be. Never give up on your dreams. Everything is possible at any stage of life. Because life is long and beautiful.
In this podcast Jordan and Benjamin discuss:
- Prospection: rather than remaining tethered to a past over which we no longer have any control. Instead we can visualize a number of possible futures, and choose the course of action that guides us toward the one we find most desirable.
- Most of us don’t guide ourselves toward our most desirable future, because we’re too busy coping with the immediate concerns of daily life to clearly see the course that would take us there.
- Are you committing yourself to avoidance-driven goals (like doomscrolling through rolling news) that serve to distract and knock you off course, instead of approach-driven goals that nudge you toward your ideal future self (like learning more about your chosen career so you can do your best work)?
- Connecting with your long-term future self to make the decisions that speed you toward this person may require extra effort, because humans are living longer than ever before and didn’t evolve to think far beyond immediate survival.
- Why it’s important to envision your future self as an actual different person (with different thoughts and motivations) than you are today, rather than just a later iteration of your current self.
- And, as always, much much more…..