Be Your Future Author Self Now
Building a thriving author business with intentional transformation
Author Dr. Benjamin Hardy is the world’s leading expert on the application of the science of the future self concept. His work turns psychological research into simple, practical frameworks for entrepreneurs, leaders, and individuals looking to achieve big, transformational goals, and focuses on the power of intention, future-oriented thinking, environmental design, and subtracting the non-essential.
Future Self?
It’s just like it sounds. Your future self is who you will be in the future. Some core ideas around the concept of your future self:
Think of your future self as a different person from your current self. Because your future self is not metaphorically different from who you are now, but actually—physically and psychologically—a different person. Befriend and be kind to this future person. Treat them right with the decisions you make and the actions you take now.
Let your future, not your past, drive your behavior. Rather than having your past, habits, and constructs (some sort of determinism) dictate your day-to-day behavior and choices, let your goals and your desired futured pull you and your behavior forward.
A strong connection with your future self improves present-day decisions. The more connected you feel with your future self, the more appreciation, understanding, and empathy you have for yourself down the road, the better your current decisions affecting that future person you will be are.
Base your identity more on where you’re going than who you’ve been in the past. Hold your sense of self loosely enough to allow the deliberate practice and intentional transformation of future-self thinking bring you to that new reality.
Dr. Benjamin Hardy?
I’ve read four of his books recently—so you don’t necessarily have to. However, they are quick, useful reads if any particularly call to you. Each expounds on just a few basic, memorable nuggets that are worth keeping in mind.
Willpower Doesn’t Work (2018) - Change comes from designing your environment to support your goals, rather than on relying on a centerpiece of self-control.
Personality Isn’t Permanent (2020) - Your personality is flexible and self-created based on your future goals, not fixed by your past or genetics, so feel free to ignore the findings of personality tests and assessments.
The Gap and the Gain (co-authored with Dan Sullivan, 2021) - Measure your progress backward against where you started, rather than forward against an ideal, to find enduring satisfaction, i.e., live in the gain (where you’ve actually made progress) rather than the gap (the shortfall between where you are and your ideal destination).
Be Your Future Self Now (2022) - Your desired future self should drive your present decisions and behavior, rather than letting your past define who you are today.
This fourth title, Be Your Future Self Now, struck me as most relevant for our author businesses, especially year-end, looking ahead to our 2026 future. Here are some of the top points I want to share and that I’ve already begun thinking about in greater depth.
Top Points from the Book for Your Future Author Self
Make Bigger Goals…10x Bigger!
Hardy encourages those thinking about their future self to 10x their goals. Life as is (health, relationships, your job/business) is already hard….why not put in the hard work for something much, much better? The thinking and effort required for a 1x goal may not be that much different than the thinking and effort needed for a 10x goal. Might as well train your thinking and heavy lifting for the bigger prize. There’s also the notion that bigger goals are more inspiring, motivating, and thus may get more traction.
For authors: Let’s start with a small example. Get booked on your first podcast! Why not 10 podcasts? When you know how to get on a podcast and you have the experience of talking about your book on a podcast you know it can be done. The next 9 are just repetition. Same for getting media coverage and doing paid events.
What’s your current goal? How can you 10x that? Is it hard to think about making $10,000 as an author next year after expenses? Why not take on the hard of making $100,000 as an author? What would you have to do to get there?
It takes courage to start a business.
Standing on the sidelines does not correlate with the future self you imagine. It takes courage to do something big like starting a business, but the first step is to get yourself into the ring. Hardy also cites research showing that most businesses start taking off with a major commitment of some sort (often financial) that demonstrates to yourself that you’re in it for real.
For authors: Where are you ready to leave the sidelines and step into the arena when it comes to your author business? Is it starting your business? Growing your business? Increasing income to a part-time or full-time level? Doing events? Media outreach? Volume sales? Better use of digital marketing dollars? What kind of courage and commitment are you ready to invest for your future author self?
Invest in your own failure.
Wrangle all your courage and commitment as friend to your future self and put your energies into places where you know you may fail but are on the path you want to be on.
For authors: What are you avoiding? Where do you have imposter syndrome? What in other authors’ lives makes you jealous? What seems too big and too scary and stands between you and what you actually want? Do not let the fear of failure interfere with the future author self you want. Put time, energy, money, or other required resources into the desired vision you have for down-the-road you.
Pick three things.
Focus matters. What are the top three things (you can change them as you need to, as you go) that matter for your future self?
For authors: Make a list of all the things you envision for your future author self. What are the top three things you can focus on to bring about that person? Consider: income level, number of books, readership, visibility, how you feel, impact, quality.
Maybe you select one item each in the pivotal areas of writing, publishing, and marketing. Maybe you select themes like excellence, service, reach. Maybe you like concrete goals: Six-figure years. Getting on a besteller list. Appearing on national TV. Use these three things as a filter. All choices and tasks should align with one of your top three.
Eliminate lesser goals.
Have the back of your future self and confine your efforts to the top goals (your 10x plan, your top three things). Don’t shoot for lesser goals. Eliminate them or make them critical milestones on the larger path.
For authors: Reframe (or eliminate) all tasks, goals, campaigns in light of your 10x goal and/or the top three things that matter to your future self. Getting on podcasts is a lesser goal if your aim is to grow your readership through massive media exposure. Keep your focus on media exposure and getting on podcasts may or may not be part of that strategy. When negotiating an event contract, reframe the lesser goal of a certain dollar amount, and hold in mind your annual income goal and how this one decision fits into that picture. Allow your big vision to pull your future self to you know.
Ask for exactly what you want.
Your future self depends on your willingness to be clear and direct about what you want. Most people don’t get what they want because they never actually ask for it. Being specific about what you want isn’t selfish; it’s essential to creating the future you envision.
For authors: The worst answer is the one you never get because you didn’t ask. Stop hinting and hedging and start asking. Your future author self exists down the road from clear, even bold, requests. Want to be on that influential podcast? Send an email and ask. Want to speak at a specific conference? Submit a proposal or contact the organizers directly. Want a bulk book sale or corporate partnership? Make the pitch. Want a blurb from a well-known author? Craft your request and send it.
Eliminate work by optimizing and automating…after that, outsource.
Your future self and your current self have limited time and energy. Hardy advocates for ruthlessly eliminating unnecessary work, then optimizing and automating what remains (finding and fine-tuning the right systems and processes), and finally, outsourcing tasks that don’t require your special skills or attention. This creates space for the high-value activities only you can do.
For authors: Start by eliminating busywork that doesn’t serve your top three goals. Then systematize what’s left: Batch your social media posts, create email templates, optimized your book launches, use and refine checklists. Automate what you can with scheduling tools, email sequences, and sales funnels. Finally, outsource tactical work like formatting, graphic design, bookkeeping, or administrative tasks. Your future author self needs you focused on your best writing, strategic decision-making and planning, working publishing options that serve you, and critical sales, marketing, and outreach that only you can perform.
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