2. Take Ownership of Your Future Self

BENJAMIN HARDY

IN HIS TED TALK “The Psychology of Your Future Self,” Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert explains a bias that almost all of us have: We tend to think that the person we are today is the person we will always be. Most people, when asked if they are the same person they were 10 years ago, will say no, but we have a much harder time seeing potential for change in the future. Gilbert and others call this the “end of history illusion.” Despite awareness that our past self is clearly different from our present self, we tend to think that who we are right now is the “real” and “finished” version of ourselves, and our future self will be basically the same as who we are today. Gilbert puts it…

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Harvard Business Review Special Issues (Digital) - 1 Issue, Spring 2025

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