Too bad my Past Self didn’t see fit to sock away money for a $2.5 million oceanfront condo for my Present Self.
I wish I were better at saving money. I could pretend I am. Sometimes I even try to be, like the week when I tried to keep track of all the money I didn’t spend on iced coffee … and later forgot to move it into savings, so I’m sure it just ended up back in the cycle of iced coffees I did buy, and … you get the point.
Can you imagine the nest egg I would have to buy a home if I would’ve had the foresight in my early 20s to start setting aside money? I’m imagining a mountain of cash to jump into, but I’d be happy with just a medium-sized stack of dollar bills that would make a dent in this Los Angeles real estate market (average house price: $745,000).
And why can’t I seem to drop some extra weight? Is it because today tomorrow next Monday would be a better day to start exercising?
Apparently I’m not alone (please tell me I’m not alone) in my procrastination. According to this Nautilus article I came across, there’s a mental disconnect between our Present Self and our Future Self. A study found that people often see their Future Self as strangers, not of the same flesh and blood as their Present Self:
Their future self “felt” like somebody else. In fact, their neural activity when they described themselves in a decade was similar to that when they described Matt Damon or Natalie Portman.
It definitely makes sense. And it explains why every time I make an appointment I set it for the far future. It’s almost like I’m setting it for someone else, so I don’t have to stress about how Future Self will feel about dental work. Hint: I will always and forever be unhappy about dental work.
The study says that people were compelled to save more money at the ATM if they saw a composite of what their Future Self might look like. What do you think: Creepy or ingenius? Would you be compelled to stash some funds away if you saw yourself gray-haired and liver spotted?
For now, a quick promise to my Future Self.
Dear Future Self: I’m sorry I haven’t taken you seriously! (And I hope you’re not living in a cardboard box down by the river.) I’ll do better now to make your life easier later, promise.
