Meet Laura, a dedicated procrastinator. Laura had a serious habit—she could easily binge-watch shows for hours, even if it meant ignoring that pile of laundry or the stack of dishes in the sink. She knew this wasn’t the best use of her time, but whenever she decided to tackle those chores, the lure of her favorite series always pulled her back in.
One day, while chatting with a friend, Laura made a bold declaration: “If I don’t clean my apartment by the end of the week, I’ll donate $5000 to a charity I absolutely can’t stand!”
That was the turning point. Laura never let her apartment get messy again.
When Willpower Runs Dry
As we discussed earlier in this series, it’s tough to stay motivated when the consequences of our actions seem distant. Laura’s struggle to clean up is a perfect example. Watching just one more episode (or five) didn’t seem harmful at the moment. The mess was only a problem for future-Laura, but who cared about her?
However, once Laura threw down that shocking ultimatum—donating to a cause she detested—her perspective changed. The choice shifted from “cleaning now” to “cleaning now or losing a hefty sum to a charity I hate!” The potential loss became immediate, making it harder for her to ignore the consequences of procrastination.
Mastering Your Future Self
Laura’s experience illustrates a powerful strategy: how to influence your future choices. By reshaping the options available to you and making the outcomes more immediate, you can steer future-you towards decisions that align with your current values. This technique is known as “precommitment,” a concept introduced by Nobel Prize-winning economist Thomas Schelling.
Schelling highlights how some women, anticipating labor, request not to be offered anesthesia. They understand that in the heat of the moment, they might choose the easy way out, so they limit their options ahead of time to avoid regret later.
You can find precommitment strategies everywhere: “Please don’t let me have any cookies, even if I beg,” or “If I try to call my ex after a few drinks, please stop me!”
Five Effective Strategies to Get Your Future Self on Board
- Delegate Control: Hand over your phone or car keys to someone who can keep you accountable when temptation strikes.
- Set a Commitment: Make a pact where your failure to follow through means donating to a cause you dislike, just like Laura did.
- Eliminate Temptation: If you’re trying to eat healthy, don’t stock your pantry with junk food. Tools like Self Control can help block distractions online.
- Create Distractions: Have a friend take you to a quiet place with no internet until you finish that important task.
- Plan Your Schedule: If you know you’ll be tempted to binge-watch in the evening, schedule your errands or workouts for those times instead.
What If You Always Did What You Wanted?
All these strategies aim to reshape your future decisions so that they naturally align with your current intentions. The best way to make running feel like the best option later is to schedule it for a time you know you’ll be motivated. Or you could set up a financial penalty for skipping out—because if the choice is between running and losing $100, I think we know which one most of us would pick!
Which strategy works best for you will depend on your personal habits and goals. For me, the commitment strategy has been a game-changer. I often use an app called Beeminder to track my goals—like a consistent workout routine or daily meditation—which charges me if I stray off course. It’s not for everyone, but for those it resonates with, it can be life-altering. I haven’t tried the “incarceration” strategy yet, but it sounds like it could be quite effective!
In summary: To get anything done, we need motivation. When the consequences of our actions feel distant, it’s tough to stay motivated, especially when there are more immediately rewarding options. The solution? Find a way to make the benefits of taking action—or the costs of inaction—more immediate. Limit your future choices so that the actions you want to take align with what future-you will want too.
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