In the study, just over 1,000 participants completed a writing exercise in which they imagined a day in the future – either far ahead in time or only a few weeks away. The results were clear.
– Those who imagined a distant future felt a stronger connection to their future selves. They also lived more in line with their values than the others, says Jonas Hjalmar Blom, PhD Student in Psychology. They focused more on what was truly important to them, rather than on minor everyday distractions.
One of the participants later contacted him to describe the effect the exercise had had.
– He wrote that the writing exercise “opened doors he rarely opened”. It’s wonderful to see how such a simple method can help people think in longer time perspectives, says Jonas Hjalmar Blom.
He explains that most of us are so occupied with everyday life that we seldom lift our gaze towards the more distant future.
– But if we occasionally take the time to think along longer timelines, we can gain a better sense of what is worth investing our time in – at work, in relationships and in our free time. In short: anyone seeking stronger meaning and clearer direction in life can benefit from this.
The study has been published in an international top-tier journal.
– It is of course great fun – and a good example of how, as a doctoral student, I stand on the shoulders of giants. My supervisors at CTF, as well as researchers around the world, have inspired both the ideas and the methods behind the study, he says.
Jonas is currently working with a new, extensive dataset where more than 10,000 people have answered questions about their future selves and shared their consumption data. The aim is to understand how a sense of connection to the future influences both attitudes and actual consumption – for example savings behaviour and carbon emissions.
– There are genuinely exciting findings emerging for anyone interested in consumer psychology – stay tuned! he says.
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