Present Focused vs Future Focused
Hal Hershfield is a professor of psychology at UCLA. And his research shows we don’t do a good job of identifying with our future selves.
We think of our future self as some other person. In one of his studies, this phenomenon actually showed up on Hershfield’s subjects’ fMRI scans.
And that’s one explanation for why it’s so hard for so many of us to save for retirement. We’d rather we spend our money. Not some stranger.
But Hershfield found a hack.
He ran another study where he took photos of subjects. And then he used software to digitally age half of them. Wrinkles. Bags under the eyes. Gray hair.
He showed the participants their photos. Half saw photos of their current selves. The other half saw aged versions. And afterward, he asked the participants to allocate $1,000 among four options.
Buying something nice for someone special
Investing in a retirement fund
Planning a fun event
Putting money into a checking account.
People who saw the older versions of themselves put twice as much into retirement as the people who didn’t.
Powerful stuff.
Being present focused isn’t bad. It allows us to appreciate nature. Our experiences. The people around us. Being present focused can improve our relationships.
Being future focused is necessary too though. It engenders patience. Discipline. Responsible planning.
Both mindsets are necessary. But we might make better decisions if we regularly glanced at a digitally aged photo of ourselves with wrinkles, bags under our eyes, and grey hair.
If we’re lucky, that will be us someday.
