How does the connection we have with our future self impact the decisions we make today? And what active steps can we take to improve our connection with our future selves? Today on the show we welcome back Hal Hershfield, whose new book Your Future Self: How to Make Tomorrow Better Today delves into the science of our relationship with our future selves and what we can do to change it for the better. In our conversation with Hal, we discuss the concept of the self, how we change over time, and why so many of us feel disconnected from our future selves. He describes the research surrounding these subjects and their findings, including how the brain scans they performed demonstrate that we mostly see our future selves as strangers, and why this is caused, at least in part, by the fact that our future selves don’t technically exist yet. We also discuss the interventions that have been shown to improve our relationship with our future selves, like viewing age-progressed images or exchanging letters with our future selves, and why everyone responds to these interventions differently. Having a strong connection with your future self has many benefits. It means you’re more likely to make decisions that will serve you later in life, like saving for retirement, eating healthily, and exercising regularly. But Hal also warns that we risk losing sight of the present and what truly matters when we focus solely on the future. To hear all of Hal’s knowledgeable insights on this topic and what he wants to explore next, be sure to tune in today! Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 4:46 Hal defines The Self 8:46 Aspects of the self that tend to be stable over time 11:37 What happens inside of our brains that makes it hard to connect with our future self 17:38 What causes our future self to feel like a stranger 19:07 Why we don't want our future self to feel like a stranger 22:16 How closeness to the future self affects wealth accumulation and financial well-being 27:46 How accurately people tend to predict and imagine the future 28:53 The impact the End of History Illusion has on decisions about the future 35:49 How images connect us to our future self 44:55 Behaviors that are positively affected by age progressed images 48:50 Real-world examples of age progression used to improve decision making 51:04 How effective writing to your future self is to improving decision making 55:52 What happens when we get too focused on improving life for our future self 1:01:03 The effect COVID had on our collective relationship with the future 1:05:07 FutureProof Conference Announcement Participate in our Community Discussion about this Episode: https://community.rationalreminder.ca/t/episode-256-prof-hal-hershfield-your-future-self-discussion-thread/23759 Book From Today’s Episode: Your Future Self — https://www.halhershfield.com/yourfutureself Links From Today’s Episode: Rational Reminder on iTunes — https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rational-reminder-podcast/id1426530582. Rational Reminder Website — https://rationalreminder.ca/ Shop Merch — https://shop.rationalreminder.ca/ Join the Community — https://community.rationalreminder.ca/ Follow us on Twitter — https://twitter.com/RationalRemind Follow us on Instagram — @rationalreminder Benjamin on Twitter — https://twitter.com/benjaminwfelix Cameron on Twitter — https://twitter.com/CameronPassmore Hal Hershfield on Twitter — https://twitter.com/HalHershfield Hal Hershfield on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/hal-hershfield-a2b91510/ Hal Hershfield — http://www.halhershfield.com/