You don't actually know what your future self wants | Shankar Vendantam
Jan 1, 2024
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Shankar Vendantam, a journalist, discusses the impact of the "illusion of continuity" on our future selves. He challenges the belief that our future selves will have the same views and hopes as our present selves. Modupe offers an empowering perspective on future self's feelings.
The belief in the illusion of continuity can lead to problems when our future selves have different perspectives and preferences, highlighting the need to actively craft our future selves.
Affective forecasting, or predicting our future emotions, is often inaccurate, leading to potential misjudgments in work decisions. Embracing uncertainty and staying open to new opportunities can help navigate these challenges.
Deep dives
The Illusion of Continuity
Our current selves often assume that our future selves will have the same views, perspectives, and hopes, but this creates an illusion of continuity. This illusion becomes problematic when we make promises, pass laws, or lock people up, as our future selves may have different perspectives and preferences. The speaker highlights the need to actively craft our future selves by staying curious, expanding our horizons, and being the architects of who we want to become.
The Challenges of Predicting Future Emotions
People tend to be poor at predicting their future emotions, also known as affective forecasting. We often overestimate the intensity and duration of our emotions and misforecast our reactions to various events. This has implications for work decisions, as we may inaccurately forecast how we will feel about a job or project. Understanding this can help us be more humble, embrace uncertainty, and be open to discovering new opportunities that our present selves may find more enjoyable.
Embracing Curiosity, Humility, and Bravery
To navigate the uncertainty of our future selves and emotions, the speaker offers three pieces of advice. First, he suggests staying curious and expanding our horizons to actively shape our future selves. Second, he emphasizes the importance of humility, both in expressing our views and making long-lasting decisions. Finally, he encourages bravery in taking risks and embracing new opportunities, recognizing that our future selves may possess capacities and wisdom that our current selves cannot foresee.
"You are constantly becoming a new person," says journalist Shankar Vendantam. This week we’re revisiting a talk full of beautiful storytelling, where Vendantam explains the profound impact of something he calls the "illusion of continuity" — the belief that our future selves will share the same views, perspectives and hopes as our current selves — and shows how we can more proactively craft the people we are to become. Stay tuned after the talk as Modupe shares a clear-eyed and empowering perspective on your future self’s feelings.