I don’t want to do this boring task right now or ever

FUTURE SELF — Treat things you do as a compassionate investment in yourself that you recoup later on

There's a widely cited psychology study about something called temporal discounting. The researchers asked participants the question, what motivates people to make decisions in the present that benefit their self in the future? Turns out, it’s the degree of connection people perceive between their present and future selves. In the first population, people see their core identity as changing substantially over time into a substantially different future self. They’re less likely to invest in themselves. They are not willing forgo benefits in the present to ensure the larger, deferred benefits to be enjoyed by that future self, since they’re not as connected to it. Compare that motivation with the other population, people who see the traits defining their identity as stable and unlikely to change. These individuals have higher psychological connectedness to their future self. Seeing that future version of themselves as nearly the same person as the current self bolsters their motivation to care about their own welfare. Long story short, when people don’t know who they are, they’re not motivated to defer gratification to their future self. It would be like giving money to a stranger. But when an individual’s sense of self is stable, they invest. They treat their future self differently. Which person most describes you? How often do you treat things you do as an investment in yourself that you'll be able to recoup later on?