Kirkus Review
How to act on your own behalf. Hershfield, a psychologist and professor of marketing, offers thoughtful, research-based guidance about making decisions in the present to create a better future for yourself. "If you were able to sit down and have a conversation with your future self," he asks, "what would you say, and what would happen as a result?" Marshaling abundant anecdotes, hypothetical scenarios, and findings from social science research, the author asserts that often we use "the emotional states of our current selves to make decisions for future selves who will no longer feel the same way." Instead, we must recognize that our future self may have different needs and perspectives from our present self. Everyone changes over time. Rather than there being "a central self at our core," Hershfield has found from his own research that each individual is "an aggregation of separate, distinct selves." When we become "overly anchored on present-day concerns," though, we imagine that a future self will feel exactly the same way as we do now. The author suggests that connecting with a vividly imagined future self can make us more likely to act on that future self's behalf--by saving more for retirement, for example, or by choosing a healthy diet and exercising. Some strategies to help make that connection include writing a letter to a future self or looking at age-progressed images. "In a variety of ways," he writes, "we see our distant selves as if they are other people. What matters is the relationships we have with those other people." When deciding whether to commit to some future activity, we should weigh "how much burden and stress" the activity may create against the positive opportunities that may arise from the experience. To help achieve our goals, Hershfield proposes assorted commitment devices to help us follow a desired course of action and overcome undermining behavior. An encouraging, practical guide for decision-making. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
We all dabble in "mental time travel," according to Hershfield, a professor of philosophy at UCLA. We remember our lives as children or young adults; we imagine our futures. Hershfield has used MRIs, surveys, and interviews with numerous students and others to determine just how we feel about our future selves and how that affects our current lives. In cases where subjects felt strongly connected to their future selves, they seemed to be more inclined to live a healthier and more frugal lifestyle. Those who viewed their future selves as "strangers" were more apt to live for today. Hershfield suggests various ways to look forward, including using computer programs to age our pictures and writing letters to our future selves. He explains that procrastination is actually assuming (usually without merit) that our future selves will have more time or be more willing to take on unpleasant tasks. Hershfield ultimately offers strategies for pushing our current selves to advance, while keeping our future selves in mind.
Library Journal Review
People tend to make decisions based on how they feel and what they want in the present moment, but those choices may not ultimately be the most beneficial. Here Hershfield (marketing and psychology, UCLA) posits that there is another way to think about decision-making: to raise the question of one's future self. Although people tend to see their future selves as separate from the person they are now, Hershfield suggests that considering the future in a more thoughtful, nuanced way can help us make decisions that will be good for both versions of ourselves. The book discusses these ideas and related scholarly studies in a clear and accessible way. Readers interested in the psychology of choice may find this book particularly compelling. VERDICT A comprehensive and mindful discussion of decision making that's designed to benefit readers' current and future selves. Recommended for libraries where there is interest in psychology or self-help.--Amber Gray
