Dr. Benjamin Hardy’s ground-breaking work “Be Your Future Self Now: The Science of Intentional Transformation”.
How to make choices in the present that are aligned with your future.
How to intentional create the life of your dreams now
Use my code JACY10 to save on your order of Gut Personal Supplements! Visit www.gutpersonal.com and take their online quiz to get personalized recommendations of supplements for your gut health needs! I recommend starting with the Miracle Worker! It is my favorite and will literally TRANSFORM your sleep.
Remember that, you are worthy. You have value. You get to take up space in this world simply because you exist. Don’t let anyone, including yourself, convenience you otherwise. If that idea or vision for your life is in you, then it is for you.
⚡I would love it if you take 30 seconds to leave a 5 star review and a rating sharing why you love this podcast! If you have left a review, please share it with a friend!
Dr. Benjamin Hardy’s ground-breaking work “Be Your Future Self Now: The Science of Intentional Transformation”.
How to make choices in the present that are aligned with your future.
How to intentional create the life of your dreams now
Use my code JACY10 to save on your order of Gut Personal Supplements! Visit www.gutpersonal.com and take their online quiz to get personalized recommendations of supplements for your gut health needs! I recommend starting with the Miracle Worker! It is my favorite and will literally TRANSFORM your sleep.
Remember that, you are worthy. You have value. You get to take up space in this world simply because you exist. Don’t let anyone, including yourself, convenience you otherwise. If that idea or vision for your life is in you, then it is for you.
⚡I would love it if you take 30 seconds to leave a 5 star review and a rating sharing why you love this podcast! If you have left a review, please share it with a friend!
Speaker 1:
Hi and welcome to the have the Audacity podcast, where we are all about living our own version of our best life. My name is Jacey. I'm a multi-passionate human obsessed with personal growth, and I want you to come on this journey with me, where we share our stories and learn tools, tips and tricks to live the life we were always meant to live. So let's lean into the uncomfortable celebrator highs and embrace our lows, because all of it's important. It may get a little messy, but it's time to have the audacity. Hey, audacious Human, I'm so glad that you're here for today's episode. So I've been thinking because if you're new here, welcome. So glad that we're here and we get to be friends. You've been here for a while. You know I like to keep this as like a come with me, we're figuring life out together type of podcast. I have all the answers and you know I record podcast episodes by myself. So I just picture you sitting with me or on the couch having conversation, drinking coffee hot tea, you know and just chilling. It's very relaxed vibe, and so, with that in mind, I want to start sharing takeaways from some of the books that I'm reading. I love to read and, honestly, learning new things is like what has helped me grow and evolve, and a lot of the books, some of the favorite books I've read, I got because somebody else recommended them, and so I thought, if I read a book that I think, wow, there's a piece of nugget in here that would be super impactful for your life, that I would talk to you about. If we were just talking on the street, if we walked it, bumped into each other on the street, I was talking to you, like I would probably work this into the conversation, then I need to bring it here, and so I'm going to start doing some episodes like this where I share some takeaways from some books that I've been reading, and so the first one that we're going to talk about today is I literally just read this book, and it is called Be your Future Self Now, the Science of Intentional Transformation, and it's by Dr Benjamin Hardy, who is a psychologist. And before you go, wow, do you see? This is about to be super boring and super factual. Don't turn it off, just give me a moment, because there's so much power in here and there's so much to this book. Like I did, 10 out of 10 recommend you reading this book and its entirety, the Listen to an Audible. I think it's only like five hours. I listened to this book on a trip on Audible and I finished it and it was amazing, and so I 10 out of 10 recommend.
Speaker 1:
But I want to share with you some key takeaways that I thought you can walk away from this conversation today and immediately apply it in your life and see huge impacts there. And so the first part is I needed to kind of give you some context of this whole your future self and, looking at it this way, like we know, like oh no, that's in the future. Like no, like there's a version of you in the future that you're going to be, and so the premise of this book is about being more connected to how you feel in your future self is the more actions you'll take presently to take care of your future self. And so where this whole idea is coming from is relatively new in terms of research in psychology, and he does a great job. Dr Hardita's talking about Mr Beast, the YouTube star, who applied this principle knowingly, unknowingly, and how it resulted in him having extreme success. But this whole idea of your future self, like previously it showed up in the 1990s, so you know it's just been 30 years, so in the thought world that's still relatively new, so it makes sense that this is not out by its bed. Common we talked about. In society we're still in the old way of thinking, predominantly speaking, and so that is the it's called determinism.
Speaker 1:
And what determinism means is where your past events dictate who you are and what you're doing right now. The past is to blame and it is why you are experiencing what you're experiencing right now. It determines, it gets to dictate that what you've been through dictates where you are now and how disempowering is that? And that's the common, widespread belief. Well, the 1990s is positive. Psychologists got together and wanted to see. They shifted their focus to figure out how does somebody become happy, healthy and successful? And what they determined was that your future self dictates is your actions and your present. So your future self is literally pulling you into the future. It's not your past dictating your present, your future self, what you want for your future, what your future self wants, dictates the choices you make in the present. So determinism this your past defines your present.
Speaker 1:
It really is fear based and is reactive and short term thinking and in our world is so geared towards that. Why do we find ourselves scrolling forever? We want those dopamine hits. And you think, oh, and that's why we have such a hard time saving for retirement, planning for the future, saving for long-term things. Because societally we're focused on the short term, short term goals and that's just. It just needs to be a new frame of thinking.
Speaker 1:
So this whole idea of your future self being your future self now is proactive, long-term and is love based, not fear based. It's the opposite. And you're like, okay, why is this important? But like, why? What would you rather have? Would you rather have fear based, make fear based decisions, or love based, think proactively, long-term, or would you rather just be reactive to life? And that was why I knew I had to come talk to you about this today, because there's so much more empowerment and shifting into this future self thinking. So why this is so important is like you make decisions with your future self, like your future self just determines your present decisions and so, under kind of understanding how you make I won't get into the science of it. Dr Hardy does a great job explaining it in a way that I feel like anybody can understand Some of the science behind this and what goes on.
Speaker 1:
But really understanding like human beings and behaviors and your goals is there's two types of goals. We know short-term goals, long-term goals, and then your goals are either conscious or subconscious, and that's something we don't think about. Every decision you make is fulfilling the need of a short-term or a long-term goal, and it's either subconscious or conscious. Subconscious meaning you're not aware that it's there. Conscious meaning you are Every decision you make all day long. Your brain's making all these decisions to fill a goal. Some goals serve you, some goals do not. And so this thought, thinking, this thought, thinking, oh, this thought process is about making purposeful, conscious decisions. And so, with this, the other key part to understand as we dive into, like, okay, how do we apply this in our world? As understanding motivations is, your goals can be in our two categories. It's approach motivations and avoid motivations, so they're both goals. You're either working for something or trying to avoid something.
Speaker 1:
It's very two columns here. So this goes into every small decision Buying something now, saving money, going to the gym, sitting on the couch, staying up till 2 am, going to bed early, like there's always something there, and so this whole idea of thinking of your future self and having your future self make present choices. Decisions is a shift in thinking. Because think about this You're out and you go out to dinner with some friends and you know that you have to get up early the next day and you go to leave and they want to continue on. They're like, hey, let's go get coffee after dinner. And you're like oh, I really need I know if I drink coffee. It's gonna Like let me tell you this example right here is why I'm 30, this just shows it. But you go out to dinner, you're the friend, so I can't. Let's go get coffee. And you're like okay, but if I go, I'm gonna go get coffee and I have to get up early tomorrow and I'm not gonna get out of sleep and I know I'm gonna be tired, but ah, let's go. So you wake up, you may be oversleep, rushing.
Speaker 1:
Your future self is now having to deal with pay the consequences of you staying out late Because your present self made decisions based on what it wanted in the moment and thought, ah, your future self will pay for it. This whole concept Dr Hardy talks about is like Going back to the concept of the Pied Piper, and so what that means is like you're gonna, you're gonna pay the Pied Piper. So like, your future self is the Pied Piper, so like it's like you're gonna pay for it. And I was like, oh, this makes so much sense because, if you think about it, if you're in like financial goals and you want to Save X amount of dollars, but there's a sale for something, they're like oh, I really want to buy that cell. I Don't really have any for about this, put on my credit card. It's fine, put on my credit card, I'll pay for. I'll make up the money for it later. So you're making a decision that you're saying ah, future self will figure it out, future me will figure it out.
Speaker 1:
When future means like hey, I thought we had these long-term goals and now I have to deal with this and clean up your mess, your current self mess, and so it's. It's thinking with these things in mind, making decisions in the present based on what you want in the future. What do we do for your future self? Like, oh, I went to dinner with my friends. They're like hey, let's keep going, let's go have coffee. And I'm like no, I know, tomorrow I have a big day and I have to get up early, so now I'm gonna go to sleep so I'm rested for tomorrow. Future self can wake up and be like, oh my gosh, thank you, I'm going through this day with a lot less stress.
Speaker 1:
And so this whole idea is that your future, what you want in the future, drives the choices you're making in the present. So your future self drives your present. And so he talks about getting really clear on what you want and getting really connected with with your future self and I know this sounds really woo-woo, stay with me. So there, there's some things that, like can threat, threaten your future self with that, and it's like the number one threat to your future self is Not having hope in your future, because if he talks about and he goes into, really like some great examples in the science backed behind this but I wanted To talk with, the number one threat to this that I want you to be aware of is, without hope in your future, your present loses meaning.
Speaker 1:
If you don't have hope that things are gonna get better in your future, then what is the meaning of your life right now? Then, in turn, you're gonna think why does it matter? Why does it matter if I go work out? Why does it matter if I show up and be present in my relationships. If the thing that I want is never gonna happen, I have no hope that my life is gonna turn out how I want it to have no hope of things getting better in the future, so why bother now? And when you find yourself like, what's the point, why bother? You've lost hope, and without hope in the future, your present loses meaning. Without hope, your life doesn't have meaning, and I want you to really sit with that Because it's true. So I really want you to take some time to think like do I have hope in the future? And if you don't, okay, who's stealing your hope?
Speaker 1:
Another threat to your future self is not trying that fear base. Going back to that fear based, which is the opposite of your future self. That's a determinism that you're past self thinking that fear based, because if you don't actually try for the thing you want, you don't actually work for the goal. Maybe you're somebody who has had some health issues and Some mobility issues and you're like what's the point? Okay, well, by not trying to do anything, you're failing by default If you have debt that you want to pay off, and you're like I know what's the point. It's too much by not trying to chip away at it and pay it to extra dollars, you're failing by default. By not applying for the job you want, she's like, oh, nobody'll hire me, like I don't think. So You're failing by default. It goes back to that whole thing I talked about a lot on this podcast about how if you don't ask the question answers no. By not trying, by not getting in the arena, you're failing by default.
Speaker 1:
So if you're afraid of failing by not trying, you already Are in your fear. You've already felt Because you haven't tried. And if you're already in your fear and you're alive right now, it didn't kill you. Because a lot of times we're scared to do something, because I'm scared to fail, but really it's a fear thing, our brains worried about survival. Well, if you come at it every time like, oh, I'm scared to do this, you're like, well, if I don't try already failed, you're already in your fear and you've already proved that you can make it. It's not gonna be the end of the world. So if you're a, if you're already living in what your worst case scenario is, you're gonna fail, then why not try?
Speaker 1:
So the last thing that I want to, the last thing that I want to share on this whole future self thing that I really want you to think, leave you with and think about, is you're like, okay, jc, I get it, I get this whole mindset shift, I get where it comes from. I'm kind of buying into this future self idea and why it's important and what the threats are to look out for, and but, like, how do I even start this? I don't even know. Well, in the book he gives you seven steps. There's seven truths about your future self. There's seven challenges that your threats to your future self and their seven action steps to get connected with your future self. I'm only talking about one from each, and so one the Dr Hardy writes about is getting connected with your big goals and weeding out those less circles.
Speaker 1:
So I want you to get really connected with what are your big goals? Like I want you to go into Dalu, dalu, delusional land and if nothing was off the table, if nothing was off limits, like, really, what do you want? And I want you to ask the question again. And I want you to ask the question again and after you answer, I want you to ask the question again and after you answer, I want you to ask the question again. I want you to do it like three to five times, because that first answer is always BS, so surface answer, second answers normally also BS. Takes the third, most of the time the fourth or fifth time to get to like the really, what do you want?
Speaker 1:
Not the surface level, not what you think people think you should want. What do you actually want? Nothing was off the table. What do you want? And it doesn't have to be a million dollars, it doesn't have to be to be a CEO, it doesn't have to be a private jet Like we think, all these flashy things. We're like my future self just wants to be able to play with my kids and not get tired. Like obviously I don't have kids on this, on mine, but that's like just an example. Like I just want to be able to pay for, take my family out to dinner and and buy dinner and not worry about it. Like, whatever that is for you, it doesn't have to be these big fancy things.
Speaker 1:
And finding the real goals that you have and what you really want connects you to your future self. That's how you get connected with and become your future self, because then, when you have that, you have a clear path on making decisions in your present, because we're making decisions in our present as if we're our future self. So if you have a goal that you're like I don't want to have any credit card debt, okay. So if you know that your clear goal like you want that, your future self wants that because you know your long term goals or something for your future, you and the future, so your future self wants that, then in the moment, I'm making financial buying decisions with that in mind. What would that version of me do in this decision? Now, what should I be doing? Like I am the future of me who has no debt. How would I approach this buying decision? And you do it from there. And it's so empowering and I know like it can seem a little woo woo and out there, but there's so much power in it and there's so many.
Speaker 1:
I could go on and on about this book. It was really hard to just pick a few things that were my takeaways because I truly got so much out of it. But if you want to know, like what I'm doing, these are the things I'm doing. I am letting my future self determine my present and not my past, and I'm not saying I don't get out of the park every day Because, like I said at the top of this episode, we grew up in an environment, in a society, where determinism in your past, dictating who you are right now, is so prevalent. So it takes a while, it's a process shifting this mindset. It's not a snap your fingers and it's changed. But I want so much for you that I couldn't not share this. I couldn't keep this to myself. So I highly encourage you to get this book on audible or Kindle or whatever by this book and read it, because it was. There's so much more in there. We barely even scratched the surface on this conversation today. So I want to remind, present you, to remember that your present is not determined by your past. Your future self is influencing your present. We're not. Our past is not dictate who we are Now.
Speaker 1:
If you really liked this style episode and you want to hear more of the takeaways because I read a lot of books and I listened to a lot of audio books If you want to hear more of like what I'm reading and the takeaways and how they apply to your life is just like, dm me, let me know. Dm me on Instagram. Send me an email from email list. I am a one man show, so it's me doing all the things you're talking to me, not an AI, not another human like it's me. I'd love to hear your takeaways and you know I'm unapologetically asking for what I want. So please, please, please.
Speaker 1:
If you have not yet, we've a five star rating in a review on Spotify or Apple podcasts, where I realized this podcast. It truly helps the show grow more, more than you know, and it's just such a big thank you to me, and so I thank you already for doing that. And if you have done that, please send this episode to one other person that you know would truly need this episode. So, if you've been here for any length of time and if you're new here, welcome.
Speaker 1:
We need every show with their reminder and, honestly, I want you as because I in the episode, the same way every time, is I want you to start saying it with me and instead of saying you, I want you to say I.
Speaker 1:
So, in place of my you, as you get this down, because it's the same words in the same order every time I'm gonna start seeing I and you start speaking over the self to two, but I'm going to speak this over you, because I always want you to remember that you are worthy, you have value, you get to take up space in this world simply because you exist. Don't let anyone, including yourself, convince you otherwise, and if that idea or vision for your life is in you, it is for you. I'm always rooting for you and I can't wait to talk to you soon. Thank you so much for listening. If you love this episode, I would love to hear from you, so share it on Instagram and tag me so I can personally thank you for getting this message up. I'm so grateful to have you on this journey with me. So until next time, remember to have the audacity.