Your Future Self

We usually put too much emphasis on our current selves. Jesus’ ministry reminds us that we should align ourselves with God’s future — and put our future selves in charge.

Imagine yourself 10 pounds thinner. With no credit card debt. And an ability to speak a foreign language.

Your current self — the person you are right here, right now — cannot achieve these goals. But your future self can do it.

So why not put your future self in charge?

Katherine Milkman is a behavioral economist at the Wharton School. She is very interested in how daily decisions are affected by whether the current self or the future self is making the choices. Now, this is not to say that any of us can hop into a time machine and jump into the future. But we can decide to make choices with a focus on the current day … or a future day.

Milkman has explored how people buy groceries online. Specifically, she has looked at what people order when they buy for next-day delivery, compared with what they order for delivery three days in advance. The current self buys for next-day delivery. The future self buys for three days in the future.

And what has she found?...