Key Takeaways
1. Your Future Self drives your present actions and decisions
"It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking to the future-sub specie aeternitatis. And this is his salvation in the most difficult moments of his existence."
Future-driven behavior. All human actions are driven by goals, whether short-term or long-term. Our brains are essentially prediction machines, guiding behavior toward expected futures. This teleological view sees all human action as purposeful, even if the goal isn't consciously considered.
Importance of prospection. Humans have the unique ability to contemplate multiple potential futures. This capacity for prospection allows us to make decisions based on anticipated outcomes. The quality of our connection to our Future Self largely determines the quality of our present decisions and behaviors.
Research shows people more connected to their Future Self:
- Make wiser financial decisions
- Exercise more and eat healthier
- Engage in less delinquent behavior
2. Your Future Self will be different than you expect
"Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they're finished. The person you are right now is as transient, as fleeting and as temporary as all the people you've ever been."
End-of-history illusion. Most people acknowledge they've changed significantly in the past but underestimate how much they'll change in the future. This cognitive bias leads to a fixed mindset about one's identity and potential for growth.
Embracing change. Recognizing that your Future Self will be different allows for greater flexibility, openness to growth, and compassion for your current self. It frees you from the need to be perfect or finished now.
Benefits of seeing your Future Self as different:
- Less rigid thinking
- More open to learning and growth
- Greater ability to update perspectives and values
- Enhanced compassion for current and past selves
3. Invest in your Future Self now to reap compounding benefits
"Time will be your friend or your enemy; it will promote you or expose you."
Compound effect. Small, consistent investments in your Future Self lead to dramatic results over time. Every action either costs or invests in your Future Self, with compounding consequences.
Early investment. The earlier you start investing in your Future Self, the greater the compounding effect. This applies to knowledge, skills, finances, relationships, and overall sense of purpose.
Areas to invest in your Future Self:
- Learning and skill development
- Health and wellness
- Financial assets
- Meaningful relationships
- Personal growth and self-awareness
4. Clarify your purpose and priorities to shape your Future Self
"If you have more than three priorities, you don't have any."
Contextual purpose. Rather than seeking an overarching life purpose, focus on defining a specific, meaningful goal for your current context. This provides direction and motivation in the present.
Three core priorities. Identify no more than three key areas of focus that would take your life to a different level if realized. These priorities become the foundation for your Future Self.
Steps to clarify purpose and priorities:
- Connect with your long-term Future Self
- Define your contextual purpose through three major priorities
- Set massive 12-month targets based on your priorities
5. Eliminate lesser goals to focus on what truly matters
"We are kept from our goal not by obstacles, but by a clear path to a lesser goal."
Commitment and focus. True commitment to your Future Self requires eliminating conflicting and lesser goals. Your behavior reflects what you're truly committed to in any given moment.
Identifying lesser goals. Assess your current habits, behaviors, and relationships to determine what conflicts with your contextual purpose and priorities. Be brutally honest about what you're still saying "yes" to that your Future Self would decline.
Questions to identify lesser goals:
- What in your life is outside your three priorities?
- What are you continuing to invest in that takes you away from where you want to go?
- What habits or relationships conflict with your Future Self vision?
6. Elevate from needing to wanting to knowing your desired future
"Faith knows it has already received and acts accordingly."
Emotional progression. Moving from a state of needing to wanting to knowing reflects higher levels of emotional development and belief in your Future Self. Knowing involves acceptance that you already have what you want.
Embodying your Future Self. When you fully accept and know your desired future is yours, you naturally align your actions with that vision. This state of knowing enables you to act from your goal rather than toward it.
Practices to elevate your belief:
- Visualize your Future Self in vivid detail
- Express gratitude for your vision as if it's already realized
- Align your identity with your Future Self through small, consistent actions
7. Ask boldly for what you want to accelerate progress
"Ask, and it shall be given you . . . For every one that asketh receiveth."
Direct asking. Clearly and boldly asking for exactly what you want often leads to faster results. Many people hesitate to ask, lowering their expectations and receiving less as a result.
Persistent asking. Sometimes achieving your goals requires persistence in asking. As you evolve, you'll refine what you're asking for to better align with your growing Future Self vision.
Ways to practice bold asking:
- Ask in prayer or meditation
- Seek help from experts and mentors
- Make clear requests of friends and collaborators
- Ask your audience or customers directly for support
8. Automate and systemize to support your Future Self
"For any challenge, the first thing to do is optimize it. Break it down to its bare minimum, simplify it, and eliminate everything that's not completely necessary."
System design. Create routines and processes that make desired behaviors as frictionless and automatic as possible. Impose barriers on unwanted outcomes to support your goals.
Offloading mental load. Automating and systematizing frees up mental energy and attention for more important tasks aligned with your Future Self vision.
Areas to automate and systemize:
- Financial investments and savings
- Health and fitness routines
- Learning and skill development
- Communication and scheduling
- Decision-making criteria for opportunities
9. Schedule time for your Future Self's priorities
"To me, 'busy' implies that the person is out of control of their life."
Time ownership. Take control of your schedule by prioritizing what matters most and eliminating what doesn't align with your Future Self vision. Your calendar should reflect your true priorities.
Proactive scheduling. Block time for your most important work and personal priorities before allowing other commitments. This ensures you're investing in your Future Self rather than being consumed by urgent but less important tasks.
Strategies for Future Self scheduling:
- Block "free days" for recovery and family time
- Dedicate specific days/times to your highest priority work
- Limit meetings and appointments to designated time slots
- Create a strict filter for what makes it onto your calendar
10. Aggressively complete imperfect work to make progress
"Ship often. Ship lousy stuff, but ship. Ship constantly."
Completion over perfection. Finishing projects, even imperfectly, is crucial for progress towards your Future Self. Consistent shipping leads to faster learning and improvement.
80% rule. Aim to complete work at 80% of your current best ability, rather than striving for 100% perfection. This allows for faster iteration and growth.
Benefits of aggressive completion:
- Faster learning and skill development
- Increased confidence through consistent action
- Ability to receive feedback and improve
- Momentum towards bigger goals
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Questions & Answers
What's "Be Your Future Self Now" about?
- Intentional Transformation: The book explores the science of intentional transformation, focusing on how individuals can actively shape their future selves through deliberate actions and mindset shifts.
- Future Self Concept: It introduces the concept of the "Future Self," emphasizing the importance of connecting with and envisioning a detailed and vivid version of who you want to become.
- Practical Steps: The author, Benjamin P. Hardy, provides practical steps and strategies to help readers align their current actions with their desired future outcomes.
- Psychological Insights: The book draws on psychological research to explain how our perceptions of the future influence our present behaviors and decisions.
Why should I read "Be Your Future Self Now"?
- Personal Growth: It offers valuable insights into personal development and how to achieve long-term goals by focusing on your future self.
- Actionable Advice: The book provides actionable steps and exercises to help you clarify your goals and eliminate distractions.
- Scientific Backing: It is grounded in psychological research, offering a credible and evidence-based approach to self-improvement.
- Inspiration and Motivation: Through real-life examples and motivational stories, the book inspires readers to take control of their future and live intentionally.
What are the key takeaways of "Be Your Future Self Now"?
- Future Drives Present: Your future self is the driver of your current actions and decisions, and having a clear vision of your future can guide your present behavior.
- Vivid Future Self: The more detailed and vivid your vision of your future self, the faster and more effectively you can progress toward it.
- Eliminate Lesser Goals: To achieve your future self, it's crucial to eliminate distractions and lesser goals that do not align with your primary objectives.
- Invest in Your Future Self: Consistently invest time, energy, and resources into becoming your future self, as this will compound over time and lead to significant growth.
How does Benjamin P. Hardy define the "Future Self"?
- Different Person: Hardy emphasizes that your future self is a different person from who you are today, with different goals, perspectives, and circumstances.
- Driver of Behavior: The future self acts as a driver for your current actions, influencing your decisions and motivating you to align with long-term goals.
- Vivid and Detailed Vision: A clear and vivid vision of your future self helps you make better decisions in the present and accelerates your progress.
- Investment Focus: Viewing your future self as an investment encourages you to make choices that benefit your long-term well-being and success.
What are the 7 threats to your Future Self according to the book?
- Lack of Hope: Without hope in your future, your present loses meaning, leading to a lack of motivation and direction.
- Reactive Past Narrative: A reactive narrative about your past can stunt your future growth by keeping you focused on past failures or limitations.
- Environmental Unawareness: Being unaware of your environment can lead to a random evolution, where you are influenced by external factors rather than your own goals.
- Disconnection from Future Self: Not being connected to your future self leads to myopic decisions that prioritize short-term gains over long-term success.
- Urgent Battles and Small Goals: Focusing on urgent battles and small goals keeps you stuck in a cycle of immediate gratification rather than long-term achievement.
- Not Being in the Arena: Avoiding challenges and staying out of the arena results in failing by default, as you miss opportunities for growth and learning.
- Success as a Catalyst for Failure: Success can lead to complacency and a lack of focus, ultimately becoming a catalyst for failure if not managed properly.
What are the 7 truths about your Future Self according to the book?
- Future Drives Present: Your future self is the primary driver of your present actions and decisions, shaping your behavior and choices.
- Different Than Expected: Your future self is likely to be different than you expect, with changes in goals, values, and perspectives.
- Pied Piper Effect: Your future self acts as the pied piper, leading you toward the consequences of your current actions, whether positive or negative.
- Vivid and Detailed Vision: The more vivid and detailed your vision of your future self, the faster you will progress toward it.
- Failing as Future Self: Failing as your future self is better than succeeding as your current self, as it indicates growth and learning.
- True to Future Self: Success is achieved by being true to your future self and aligning your actions with your long-term goals.
- View of God: Your view of God impacts your future self, influencing your beliefs about your potential and trajectory.
How can I connect with my Future Self?
- Vivid Visualization: Regularly visualize your future self in detail, imagining the life you want to lead and the person you want to become.
- Write a Letter: Write a letter from your future self to your current self, describing your achievements, lifestyle, and mindset.
- Empathy and Understanding: Develop empathy for your future self by considering their perspectives and how your current actions impact them.
- Invest in Your Future: Make consistent investments in your future self through learning, health, and relationships to strengthen the connection.
What is the "investment in loss" concept in the book?
- Deliberate Practice: The concept involves engaging in deliberate practice by putting yourself in challenging situations that force you to adapt and grow.
- Learning from Failure: Embrace failure as a learning opportunity, using it to refine your skills and move closer to your future self.
- Commitment to Growth: It requires a commitment to growth and a willingness to face discomfort and setbacks in pursuit of long-term success.
- Accelerated Progress: By investing in loss, you accelerate your progress toward your future self, as you learn and improve more rapidly.
How does the book suggest eliminating lesser goals?
- Clarify Priorities: Clearly define your top three priorities that align with your future self and focus your efforts on these areas.
- Say No to Distractions: Learn to say no to opportunities and activities that do not contribute to your primary goals and objectives.
- Commit 100 Percent: Fully commit to your chosen path, eliminating internal conflicts and decision fatigue by focusing on what truly matters.
- Regular Assessment: Continuously assess your actions and decisions to ensure they align with your future self and eliminate anything that doesn't.
What role does hope play in achieving your Future Self?
- Foundation of Motivation: Hope provides the foundation for motivation, giving you a reason to pursue your goals and overcome challenges.
- Agency and Pathways: It involves agency thinking, believing you have control over your actions, and pathways thinking, seeing or creating paths to your goals.
- Sustains Grit: Hope sustains grit, allowing you to persevere through setbacks and maintain focus on long-term objectives.
- Meaning and Purpose: It gives meaning and purpose to your present actions, connecting them to future outcomes and making them more significant.
What are some of the best quotes from "Be Your Future Self Now" and what do they mean?
- "Your future drives your present." This quote emphasizes the idea that your vision of your future self influences your current actions and decisions.
- "Failing as your Future Self is better than succeeding as your current self." It highlights the importance of growth and learning, suggesting that striving for your future self, even if it means failing, is more valuable than remaining comfortable in your current state.
- "Success is achieved by being true to your Future Self, nothing else." This quote underscores the idea that true success comes from aligning your actions with your long-term goals and aspirations.
- "The more vivid and detailed your Future Self, the faster you'll progress." It suggests that having a clear and detailed vision of your future self accelerates your progress and helps you achieve your goals more effectively.
Review Summary
Be Your Future Self Now received mixed reviews. Many readers found it inspiring and transformative, praising its practical advice on goal-setting and personal growth. They appreciated the actionable steps and emphasis on visualizing one's future self. However, some critics found the content repetitive, overly simplistic, or too reliant on other authors' work. The book's religious undertones and perceived privilege of the author were points of contention for some. Despite criticisms, many readers felt the core message was valuable for those seeking self-improvement and motivation.
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