Regret Discounting
note/develop🍃
Procrastination is the result of our Present Bias, where we value the short-term more than the future. As time progresses, regrets from procrastination accumulate because your future self will have greater struggles. You must keep these future regrets front of mind and discount the future value of progress back to today.
In 10 years, will you regret this action today? Regret discounting helps you put your present efforts into perspective and overcome your present bias.
With regret discounting, you're trying to weigh if your actions today will have a net positive or negative for your future self. You have to choose if it's better to spend the time on an activity today or at another time in the future. Most people are constantly borrowing from their future self, and they wonder why they're never fulfilled by their current situation.