{"id":64412,"date":"2022-04-05T17:09:32","date_gmt":"2022-04-05T21:09:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=64412"},"modified":"2022-04-15T17:18:32","modified_gmt":"2022-04-15T21:18:32","slug":"vision-for-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/vision-for-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Your Vision for the Future Is Wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Do you have a vision for the future? Do you make present-day decisions based on how you think you’ll feel later?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social psychologist Daniel Gilbert explains in his book Stumbling on Happiness <\/em>that, when you make life choices<\/a> based on how you assume you’ll feel in the future, you tend to make poor choices. Your first mistake is assuming that you’ll feel the same in the future as you do now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s why people tend to make choices they regret in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Planning for Your Future Self<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to Gilbert, you make choices about the future that are based on feelings you have now. <\/strong>Because how you\u2019re feeling now may not reflect how you\u2019d feel about the choice in the future, this can lead to poor decisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To explain this further, let\u2019s first remember the fact that your mind creates your vision for the future using existing references (your current experiences and memories). Gilbert notes that when you\u2019re considering a future choice, your mind pictures what that choice will look like using references from your past and present. You then have an emotional reaction to this picture in your mind, and this emotional reaction informs your decision<\/strong>\u2014you\u2019ll opt for the choice if you have a positive emotional reaction to the image of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Problems arise when your brain is already experiencing a strong emotional reaction to something in the present.<\/strong> In such cases, your brain focuses on your present<\/em> feeling\u2014ignoring the true future emotional reaction to the scenario you\u2019ve imagined\u2014and transposes it onto your imagined future scenario<\/a>. You thus think your present<\/em> feeling applies to the choice you\u2019re considering for your future<\/em>, even if your present emotion has nothing to do with the choice at hand. This can lead you to, say, reject a choice that would make you happy just because you\u2019re feeling sad in the present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, imagine you\u2019re considering moving to Miami. On the day you\u2019re making the choice, you feel fairly neutral\u2014you have no strong emotions in the present. When deciding whether or not to make the move, you conjure up an image of Miami as it appears in your memories: warm and sunny. This image makes you feel good\u2014you love warm climates! Therefore, you conclude that you should move to Miami because doing so will likely make you feel good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, imagine that you\u2019re making this choice on a day when you\u2019re incredibly angry due to a recent breakup. When you imagine Miami, your brain transposes your anger onto the mental image\u2014you think that living in Miami would irritate you because it would be hot and uncomfortable all the time (even though really, you love the heat). You therefore decide against the move based not on how you\u2019d actually feel about living in Miami, but based on how you\u2019re feeling right now<\/em>. This is a poor choice that sabotages an attempt at future happiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thinking Rationally, Not Emotionally<\/strong>

Gilbert\u2019s description of how we accidentally transpose current feelings onto imagined future scenarios suggests that we\u2019re doomed to make bad choices<\/a> based on misplaced emotions. However, there may be a way to circumvent this issue: by using logic-driven<\/em> tools to assess your choices, rather than relying on your possibly flawed emotions to make decisions. 

One way to do this is by implementing a rigorous decision-making process in a spreadsheet<\/a>:

Step 1:<\/strong> State the goal of your decision\u2014for instance, to move to a new city where you can live for the next 10 years. 
Step 2: <\/strong>Brainstorm options for achieving this goal. In this case, you\u2019d write down cities you\u2019re considering. 
Step 3<\/strong>: Define a set of criteria by which you\u2019ll judge each option. At this point, rather than having an emotional reaction to your memories of both cities and making a decision based on that reaction, you\u2019d instead decide what living criteria matter to you: cost of living, proximity to public transit, and so on. 
Step 4: <\/strong>Assign a degree of importance to each criterion. You might value the cost of living over proximity to public transit, as you\u2019re on a budget. 
Step 5: <\/strong>Define questions about how well each option fits the criteria. You might define the question \u201cWhat is the average cost of a condo in each city?\u201d 
Step 6: <\/strong>Perform rounds of research to answer the questions and rank the different options based on your findings and the degree of importance of each criterion. (Don\u2019t be afraid to re-rank the options based on new information as you continue your research.)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you have a vision for the future? Do you make present-day decisions based on how you think you’ll feel later? Social psychologist Daniel Gilbert explains in his book Stumbling on Happiness that, when you make life choices based on how you assume you’ll feel in the future, you tend to make poor choices. Your first mistake is assuming that you’ll feel the same in the future as you do now. Here’s why people tend to make choices they regret in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":64685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,42,9],"tags":[605],"class_list":["post-64412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-motivation","category-psychology","tag-stumbling-on-happiness","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Your Vision for the Future Is Wrong - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When you make major life decisions based on your imagined vision for the future, you'll likely end up unhappy. 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