Message In a Bottle

What could you do now that your future self would thank you for?

One of our biggest challenges in long-term planning is recognizing how different our future selves may be from who we are today. It's hard to identify with that future version because we must remember how much we will change over time.

Our preferences, desires, values, and priorities all evolve with time.

In long-term planning, we’re designing a future "present moment" for someone else—our future self.

Just a castaway An island lost at sea, oh

Another lonely day, with no one here but me, oh*

Imagine receiving a message from your future self.

Future self-projection

Dan Gilbert, the author of Stumbling on Happiness, explores the idea of future self-projection and the ways people often struggle to relate to their future selves. This contributes to procrastination and resistance to long-term planning.

Gilbert's research shows that, while people recognize how much they've changed over the last ten years, they consistently underestimate how much they'll change in the next ten.

The future self seems unknowable and foreign to us.

I'll send an S.O.S. to the world

Visualization

A study led by Hal Hershfield at Northwestern University found that visualizing oneself as an older adult can increase savings rates.

Participants who saw aged photos of themselves allocated more of their income to retirement savings than those who saw more recent photos of themselves or even aged photos of others. This seems to be due to a greater emotional connection to the future self.

Visualization creates a sense of continuity between the present and future self, which can motivate more disciplined behaviors, especially in long-term savings. This helps us see the emotional and practical benefits of planning, even in the face of uncertainty.

Take Action

The visualization practice here is a simple "day in the life" exercise. Choose a meaningful day in the future - perhaps your 80th birthday or significant anniversary.

Imagine what this meaningful day is like.

• How is your day going?
• Where are you?
• What are you doing?
• Who are you with?
• How are you feeling - physically, mentally, and emotionally?

Use all five senses to make it as vivid as possible.

Writing this down helps make the future feel more concrete, so it's easier to connect actions today with outcomes tomorrow.

A year has passed since I wrote my note

I should have known this right from the start

Create Your Message In a Bottle

Once you’ve visualized this day, write a note from this future self to your present self. Focus on the things your future self is grateful for.

Consider your future health and fitness, relationships, financial planning, and household and living situation.

• What planning, actions, or practices helped make the future day as good as possible?
• What's missing - what does your future self wish that its younger self had done?

Walked out this morning, Don't believe what I saw

Hundred billion bottles washed up on the shore

Seems I'm not alone at being alone

What could you do now that your future self would thank you for?

Variations

Consider visualizing other days in the future, including different milestones or even challenging scenarios.

Sending out an S.O.S.

Go for progress over perfection

• Adaptable plans are better in the face of long-term uncertainty
• Small steps for big wins

Sending out an S.O.S.

Be realistic: What might your future self regret you not doing?

Sending out an S.O.S.

Don't neglect your social and emotional well-being

Start now - your future self is counting on you.

Sending out an S.O.S.

Sending out an S.O.S.

* Message In a Bottle by The Police - listen here

Dan Gilbert's TedTalk: The Psychology of Your Future Self by - link here