Full disclosure: I like the way that Dan Pink thinks and I like the way he writes. “Free Agent Nation” captured my imagination a decade ago, “The Adventures of Johnny Bunko” cheered me up during a tough career patch, and now “To Sell is Human” has given me some excellent food for thought in terms of persuading others…and myself.
Pink acknowledges that “we human beings are notoriously bad at wrapping our minds around far-off events. Our biases point us toward the present.” This is a big hindrance in decision-making, whether it’s about deciding to go ahead with estate planning, to finally get in control of finances, or make other big life shifts. In a series of experiments, Hal Hershfield, a social psychologist at New York University, worked with colleagues to study the decisions that research participants made regarding retirement savings.
After these experiments, Hershfield concluded that participants who saw aged images of themselves–not just any “old” person, but themselves–always saved more. The insight? In Pink’s words, “we think of ourselves today and ourselves in the future as different people.” It’s amazing that this seems to happen so consistently, and we don’t even notice it!
Since reading this, I’ve really enjoyed framing decision in terms of whether I’d be satisfied with the outcome if it were to happen right now. Would my current “me”, with all my reasonable needs and irrational desires, like the reality the decision would create? If the answer is “no”, then it’s time to make a different decision. Can you think of how this might help you persuade yourself?