1-Page FUTURE SELF Cheat sheet
Dr. Benjamin Hardy, Organizational Psychologist and author of BE YOUR FUTURE SELF NOW
•
•
•
•
•
•
Psychological flexibility is an incredibly important skill to develop if you want to
continually expand your vision of and evolve into your desired Future Self.
A crucial aspect of psychological flexibility is knowing that you’re not your past self, that
your present self isn’t fixed but rather is extremely temporary, and that your Future Self
will be radically different from who you are now.
Being psychologically flexible fits nicely with having a growth mindset. In a growth
mindset, using Brené Brown’s words, “You’re more interested in getting it right than
being right.” In a fixed mindset, you’re trying to “be right.” You’re more interested in
proving yourself than evolving out of your limited perspective. A fixed mindset creates a
fragile identity wherein you relentlessly avoid failure, because you attach failures to
yourself and believe it means you’re limited. Conversely, in a growth mindset, you know
your current self is malleable and limited, and that your Future Self will be radically
different and more capable, and therefore you’re aggressively about seeking learning
and are comfortable with “failure.” You see everything as happening FOR you rather
than TO you. You embrace the notion that there are no mistakes in life, only lessons, but
that lessons are repeated until learned. All progress starts by telling the truth. You are
comfortable embracing new perspectives (i.e., mental complexity and emotional
development) and don’t need to prove your current perspectives. You’re less worried
about where things are at in 10 days are for more interested and committed to where
things will be in 10 years. You’re continually embracing new learning and
transforming/integrating every experience into personal evolution, and updated vision
and identity, and a releasing of what no longer resonates with your Future Self. This is
being driven by an ever-adjusting Future Self and thus being anti-fragile, rather than
being fixed in a past-oriented mindset, identity, and set of hidden commitments that
now are limiting your desired future prospects.
A great tool for recognizing that you’re not your past self is by journaling about all the
ways you and your life are different than 10 years ago. Include how your goals and
values have changed, how your thinking about money, time, and other important things
have changed. Even your preferences in food, people, experiences—how have those
evolved? The more thoughtful you are about the differences between your current and
past self, the more you’ll see possibility for radical change in your Future Self. For me, I
reference and reflect and appreciate the changes between who I am now and even who
I was 24 hours ago. I see massive change each day, and I know my Future Self will be
radically different.
Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Your Future Self,
as well as your past self, are fundamentally imagined. It’s YOU who mentally decides
who you want to be. But then, you go from Thinking to Feeling to Knowing to realize and
become your Future Self. You imagine with clarity and detail, writing in your journal and
adjusting your language to your Future Self, then you accept and allow it, and eventually
realize that what you want is Already Yours. You let go of your past self organically.
Your Future Self is your greatest guide. They love you. Be true to them you’ll do well.