Why You Can't Change Starting Tomorrow

You're one of them too, aren't you? The type who goes to bed Monday night thinking: tomorrow morning, everything will be different. You'll wake up early, do yoga, eat healthy, be productive, and not let anything piss you off. You'll get your shit together.

Then Tuesday morning at 6:30 AM, you hit snooze a thousand times because "just 10 more minutes," and end up wolfing down leftover pizza for breakfast while starting your day scrolling through your phone.

Sound familiar? Of course it does. Because we're all like this. This is how humans work.

Your brain works in a mind-blowing way: it thinks of tomorrow's you as a different person. Seriously.

Hal Hershfield, who researches this topic at UCLA, has shown that when we think about our future selves, exactly the same areas in our brain activate as when we think about a complete stranger.

This is called psychological distance. And this is why:

• Tonight you feel like tomorrow's you will love waking up at 6 AM
• This afternoon you think tomorrow's you will happily eat salad for lunch
• Today you believe tomorrow's you will finally tackle that paperwork

But tomorrow's you is exactly the same lazy, comfort-seeking, self-indulgent, impulsive person you are today. You just can't believe that about them today.

The Self-Awareness Gap

Since tomorrow's you is a different person according to your brain, you don't connect them with your self-knowledge. We could say your self-awareness expires at midnight.

Today you know about yourself that:

• You hate waking up early
• You love carbs
• Paperwork bores you so much you'd rather spend 3 hours reading Wikipedia about hippo mating habits

BUT when you make tomorrow's plan, you simply "forget" these facts. As if you were making plans for someone else. Someone much more motivated and disciplined.

Someone who isn't you.

What the Hell Should You Do Then?

Simple: Change something TODAY.

Here and now.

Not tomorrow, not next Monday, not January 1st.

1. The 2-Minute Rule

Is there something you want to change? Do 2 minutes of it right now. Right now.

• Want to exercise? Do 5 push-ups. Now.
• Want to read? Read one page. Now.
• Want to organize? Throw away 3 things from your desk. Now.

2. Do Something Tiny Today

Don't make grand plans. Do something tiny and insignificant today. Something so small you'll laugh at it. But something that points in the right direction.

For example:

• Put your sneakers by the front door (no, you don't have to wear them, just put them there)
• Buy an apple (no, you don't have to eat it, just buy it)
• Open that book to page one (no, you don't have to read it, just open it)

3. Be Honest with Today's You

Before spinning tomorrow's fantasies, ask yourself:

• "Do I, the me sitting here right now, actually enjoy doing this?"
• "When am I usually motivated?"
• "Under what circumstances do I function well?"

And build on those, not some made-up superhero version. Tomorrow's you will never exist. Today you see them as a stranger, tomorrow you'll be today's you.

The Hard Truth

Psychological distance doesn't just apply to tomorrow. It applies to next year's you, next month's you, even this afternoon's you. The further away the time, the more foreign that version feels.

This is why New Year's resolutions don't work. This is why nothing will change "starting Monday." On January 1st, you make plans for someone who will be completely different by December. On Friday, you decided how much you'd exercise over the long weekend. And then... ahem.

But if you do something today - anything - you've already proven to yourself that you're capable of it. And as cheesy as this sounds, that's such a powerful experience for your brain that tomorrow's you (who's no longer such a stranger) is more likely to continue. Because you did it yesterday too.

So What Should You Do?

Read through this article and do something.

Now.

Not today.

Now. :)

Something minimal that points in the direction you want to go.

And stop making tomorrow's plans. Tomorrow's you won't pull them out anyway.