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Temporal discounting: the battle between present and future self
The 10-10-10 method
We don't always have the mental energy to visualize the potential feelings of our future self. In these moments, we can use the 10-10-10 approach.
Ask yourself three questions to help you project yourself in the future:
- What are the consequences of this decision in 10 minutes?
- What are the consequences in 10 months?
- What are the consequences in 10 years?
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Key Ideas
Temporal discounting
We tend to pay attention to the present at the expense of the future. Our present self will eat an extra piece of cake, or skip a training session, or procrastinate and leave our future self to deal with the consequences. This is known as temporal discounting.
While in-the-moment decisions don't feel like a big deal, they add up over time.
Your future self in decision-making situations
We all like to feel good about ourselves in the moment, even if it interferes with our long-term goals.
But instead of letting our present self make the decision, we need to bring our future self into the decision-making process to help us think about the future consequences.
Using the power of regret
Emotions can be used in two ways: To understand the way we feel, and to use it proactively to influence our future behaviour.
Regret happens after an event. We can't change the past, but we can harness regret to improve our future by visualising how our future self will feel about the decision we make now. If you think that your future self will feel fine about the decision, then it is a perfectly valid conclusion.
The 10-10-10 method
We don't always have the mental energy to visualize the potential feelings of our future self. In these moments, we can use the 10-10-10 approach.
Ask yourself three questions to help you project yourself in the future:
- What are the consequences of this decision in 10 minutes?
- What are the consequences in 10 months?
- What are the consequences in 10 years?
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Why self-control matters
People who have high self-control aren’t missing out on enjoyment. Not being able to resist temptation and enjoying life are not the same things.
They tend to eat in a healthily way, exercise more, sleep better, drink less alcohol, smoke fewer cigarettes, achieve higher grades at university, have more peaceful relationships, and are more financially secure.
Biological limits to self-control
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... and boils down to what we give up to attain something. Our mindsets are inclined towards pleasure and resistive towards pain. We normally like to think in terms of gai...
Good and Bad Decisions
Decisions are a cost-benefit analysis of risking something small for the opportunity to gain something big.
- Good decisions can be: Exercising, meditating for 10 minutes daily, finding the courage and striking up a conversation with someone, applying for jobs that you may or may not get.
- Bad decisions can be: lying or pretending to someone, driving unsafely, sending angry text messages, or staying up late drinking before an important meeting or exam in the morning.
Trade-offs and Life Values
Trade-offs are not something as simple as flipping a coin. Our values guide us towards what we want in life, and it is not the same for all. Example: Buying a house has a trade-off of mortgage for the next ten or more years. This is subjective and depends on what we value in life.
Indecisive people suffer because they don’t know their inner values and what they care about.
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A person’s belief and expectation that they are capable of completing a task.
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Value
The more enjoyable a task, the less we procrastinate on it.
Boring tasks are more likely to lead to procrastination than difficult ones, that's why we keep postponing all the busywork (work that keeps us busy but has little value in itself.)
Impulsiveness
Difficulty maintaining focus in the face of immediate and more appealing distractions.
If we work in an environment where we're bombarded with distractions and we are not capable of resisting them, we're more likely to procrastinate.
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Mind The Limitations Of Your Brain
- Decide important things early in the day, else decision fatigue sets in.
- Have snacks to keep your glucose high, else your brain will respond more strongly to immediate re...
Listen To Your Body
As reaction to panic or stress the body pumps adrenaline, making you breath faster and certain parts of the body feel tight, that makes us prone to often incorrect snap judgments. When having that kind of response, close your eyes, take a few breaths, and take some time to consider your next action.
That buys you time to physically calm down enough to make a more considered choice.
Other Tips For Better Choices
- Be skeptic, meditate, learn from previous mistakes, know what the data and it’s context means, and trust your informed judgment.
- Focus on the quality of information you’re getting, not the quantity.
- Set a time limit for yourself, and ensure you’re not using your decision-making angst as a procrastination device.
- If you see that you prefer familiar and easier choices, ensure they aren’t being reframed to support something you wish was true.
- Crisp, clear decisions may seem like the best kind of decisions, but they may cost you time and extra effort when often the details may not even matter.
- Forcing yourself to choose may lead to you making high-risk decisions and ignoring alternatives.
- Imagine the effort you’re considering was a fantastic success, and then that it was an unequivocal disaster. Then, analyze the reasons for both to find blind spots, dampen excessive optimism, and bridge the gap between short-term and long-term thinking.