If you feel youre spinning your wheels and not getting closer to the things you really want, then you need to step back and be clear about the future. When we get real clarity around the outcomes we want, whether that is work or our life outside of work, we make better decisions about the behaviours we choose on a daily basis. In fact, research shows that when we are unclear about our future selves we operate with a brain region reserved for thinking about other people instead of ourselves.
A simple research experiment measured people who were disciplined at keeping financial goals (savings targets) with people who were not. The one difference they found was that those who could achieve these long term goals had a clear picture of their future self. Accordingly when they thought of themselves in the future, they used a brain region corresponding to self-thought.
By contrast, when the researchers looked at those who couldnt achieve the long term goal, they found the pictured their future self with a slightly different brain region one that is reserved for thinking about other people.
When we are unclear about our future, we dont even treat our future self as being us. This has incredible impacts on the decisions we make. If its not us in the future, we dont seem to be as accountable for the decisions we make.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.