The following is an excerpt from Dr. Benjamin Hardy’s new book (released today), Personality Isn’t Permanent, published with Penguin Random House.
Dr. Daniel Gilbert, a Harvard psychologist has found that people don’t do a very good job predicting their future, not because they can’t… but because they don’t! The reason why, from Gilbert’s research, is that very few people spend much time imagining their future selves!!! Instead, we assume that who we are today is who we’ll always be.
Your personality and comfort zone are the same thing. Going outside your comfort zone will create uncertainty in your life. You’ll make mistakes. You’ll experience failures. You’ll experience anxiety and sometimes frustrations. However, you’ll also have lots of deep learning and peak experiences, because as you intentionally go outside your comfort zone to create the life you want, you’ll evolve and change as a person.
In psychology, there is a concept called “psychological flexibility,” which means you hold your current identity and current emotions “loosely” as you pursue meaningful goals. You’re flexible in challenging and new situations. You’re increasingly adaptive. You’re not rigid. You’re not stuck. You’re growing in your confidence.
Here are the steps to imagining and becoming your desired FUTURE SELF:
Imagine who you want to beJournal about who you want to beDecide who you want to be in 3 years from nowStart telling people about your future selfCreate a morning routine where you get up, get yourself into the right environment without distractions, and activate your future-self mindsetInvest money into your future self—whether that be courses, skills, mentors, experiences.Change your environment to match your future self—including the information, food, people, and experiences you consumeThe bolder your action toward your future self, the more emotionally flexible and evolved you will become. The more emotionally evolved you become, the less constrained you’ll be by your past or your circumstances.
Dr. Benjamin Hardy is an organizational psychologist, bestselling author, and entrepreneur. From 2015-2018, he was the #1 writer in the world on Medium.com. His work is featured on Forbes, Fast Company, Fortuny, Psychology Today, CNBC, Big Think, Cheddar, and many others. He and his wife are the parents of five children. Today he published his latest book book: Personality Isn’t Permanent.
