The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More of It

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE: ARE YOU WAITING FOR
FUTURE YOU?
Is there an important change or task you’re putting off, hoping that a future you with more
willpower will show up? Do you optimistically overcommit yourself to responsibilities, only to
find yourself overwhelmed by impossible demands? Do you talk yourself out of something today,
telling yourself that you’ll feel more like it tomorrow?

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A DENTAL PHOBIC STOPS WAITING FOR A FUTURE DENTIST-LOVING SELF TO
SHOW UP
It had been almost ten years since Paul, age forty-five, had been to the dentist. His gums were
sensitive, and he had recurrent tooth pain. His wife kept telling him to go to the dentist, and he told
her he would get to it when things at work got less busy. In reality, he was afraid of what he would
find out about the state of his teeth, and the procedures he’d need to have done.
When he thought about the future-self problem, Paul realized that he had been telling himself that he
was going to get over his fear, and that’s when he would make the appointment. But when he looked at
his actual behavior, he saw that he had been telling himself that for almost a decade. In that time, his
teeth and gums had surely deteriorated from his refusal to go to the dentist. By waiting for his future
fearless self, he was guaranteeing he’d have something to really be afraid of.
Once Paul admitted that there was no version of him that was ever going to want to go to the
dentist, he decided to find a way to get his fearful self there. Paul got a recommendation from a
coworker for a dentist who specialized in fearful patients, and even provided sedatives for the
examination and treatment. Before, Paul would have felt too embarrassed to go to this dentist, but he
knew it was the only way to get his real, present self to take care of his future self ’s health.

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