Procrastination and Your Future Stranger

We all struggle with procrastination to some degree. But, what if you understood why? And how you can stop it? Whether it's to practice something yourself, or to move on helping your kids practice?

There are hundreds if not thousands of books on the topic. As well as endless gurus and courses.

But, here's another way to think about it.

This article by Thomas Ling details the research of Dr. Fuschia Sirois.

According to Dr. Sirois's research, much of the problem with procrastination lies in our thinking about our future selves.

Using MRI scans, researchers discovered that different parts of the brain are activated when we think about our present and future selves.

And when we think about our future selves, the same parts are activated as when we think of a complete stranger.

Think about that for a moment.

When you think about the future. You're literally thinking about yourself as if you were someone else entirely, whose consequences won't matter to you.

It's no wonder we procrastinate. We essentially imagine that it's going to be someone else's problem. And our future self ends up needing to bear the burden of our present procrastination.

Just as we figure it will be someone else's problem, we also have a tendency to idealize our future self for similar reasons. 

I'll get to this next week because I'll be better rested then.

I'll take the summer off because that means I'll have renewed energy in the fall. 

A year or two from now, I won't have writer's block anymore.

And we all know how it ends up turning out.

What to do? You can read the article for some ideas, but I think the most effective habit you can get into is this:

Take a few minutes every day, and think about your future self. In detail.

And then ask the question: How will my actions today affect my future self a year from now?

Or, how will they affect my kids a year from now?

When we allow ourselves to go on auto-pilot, we think the future is a stranger. But, when we take the time to think about the consequences in detail...with intent...that's a different story. And we can re-train our brains.

Try it today. Think about your future self. What that person would ask you to do. Or what that person would say to you if you procrastinate.

Then, you will know what the right decision is and have the courage to act.

Or, at least you should. Try it, come back, and let us know what you think in the comments section below. We love experiments here.