The Truth Is, I Suffer From Future-Self Delusion
By: Julia Clavien
Tags: Self Improvement, Motivation, Fitness, Habit Building, Self-awareness

The Truth Is, I Suffer From Future-Self Delusion

Why Most New Year’s Resolutions Are So Hard To Keep

TLDR: Some of us (like me) tend to be a little deluded about what our future selves are like. Our future selves are not always like we imagine when we make our New Year’s Resolutions. However there are ways to beat the delusion.

1:27am

It’s well past midnight and I’m crawling into bed. I set an alarm so my virtuous future self up can get up early and execute the perfect morning ritual.

My future self would never hit snooze.

My future self is now a “morning person” and will bounce out of bed with zeal! My future self will surely do some morning yoga. She’ll surely pour a glass of water, adds a squeeze of organic lemon, before heading out for a morning jog. She’ll surely come home, have a quick shower and get straight to work.

6:00am

But then, the future arrives. The alarm rings. And something is different…

My future self is nothing like I imagined she was! She hits snooze! Twice!

Then she hits snooze a third time, then it’s coffee, last night’s pizza, and then somehow the TV is mysteriously on.

The Future-Self Delusion (FSD)

If you’re anything like me, you’ve regularly encountered some moments of complete and utter delusion about how virtuous your future self is. I call this the Future-Self Delusion (FSD).

Every time I buy some new running shoes I expect my future self will start running every day and probably be doing a half marathon by Christmas.

Every time the capricciosa pizza arrives and I open a bottle of cabernet sauvignon, I expect that my future self will be different and start grilling fish and steaming broccoli for the rest of the week.

Every time I hit Netflix, I expect this will be the last ever six hour session of watching TV series and my future self will become a productivity machine.

But my future self has not run a marathon, has grilled very few fish, and productivity has remained largely the same.

What causes the delusion?

Am I just another self help hype sucker making ridiculous resolutions?

Have I overdosed on the resolution, affirmation, intention, mantra, vision board, or goal setting kool-aid?

Why does my future self sometimes act against my better judgement?

Akrasia — Acting Against Our Better Judgement

Akrasia. noun. — lacking command (over oneself)

It’s useful to learn a bit about human behavior. One way of dividing behaviors or habits is like this –

Instant Gratification Habits (not so good habits — instant reward/current self) Investment Habits (good habits — delayed reward/future self)

It’s easy to create instant gratification habits! These are the things your future self would NOT thank you for. If you want to eat a donut every afternoon, most of us can make that a habit all too quickly. The brain very quickly links the cue or trigger and reward and then suddenly the behavior is automatic — a habit! There you are with a donut.

Most of our resolutions tend to require investment habits. Things that your future self would thank you for. If you want to floss your teeth every day, most of us found that a harder habit to set. The brain is not getting that big quick reward, so many people end up with a full spool of floss at the end of the year.

When the resolution relates to any activity where the benefits are not received immediately — any activity that is an investment for future-you it is generally going to be more challenging to perform. There is no immediate pleasure hit (dopamine/serotonin/oxytocin etc).

Studies have shown humans can have a tendency to overestimate their future self capacity for impulse control (a Restraint Bias). Future-Self Delusion occurs when the Restraint Bias kicks in and we overestimate our capacity for impulse control. When the future comes around sometimes “Akrasia” (“lacking command (over oneself)”) arises — and we perform a behavior that gives us some instant gratification instead.

We also have a tendency to have an optimism bias about future time, psychologists call this The Planning Fallacy. We can run out of time or energy to do the resolution which can also add to FSD.

Beat Future-Self Delusion

Forget, resolutions, instead build realistic habits

If you think you might have some signs of FSD try using these steps to turn your resolution into something your future self is much more likely to do. This is based on ideas from the latest behavior design science (more details in the further reading section below).

Define what you what. Frame it in the positive — make it an approach goal. (E.g. flip it from “lose weight” to “be more lean and strong”. Determine the habit that supports the goal. (E.g. exercise every day for 30 minutes). Determine the smaller version of the habit. (E.g. put on running shoes.) Find the anchor that you will attach the habit to. (E.g. after I finish my morning coffee, I will put on my running shoes.) Design your environment for success. (E.g. put running shoes near where you drink your coffee.) Reward yourself — use positive reinforcement.

Yes it is true, after going through the all these steps your resolution to “buy broccoli when you go to the store” might not seem as sexy as your “lose 20 pounds” resolution. However, you’ll slay the Future-Self Delusion and build some good success momentum. Good luck.

Further Reading

Thinking Fast and Slow

The Power of Habit

Designing for Behavior Change: Applying Psychology and Behavioral Economics