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25th March, 2025

11 Ways to Back Your Wise Self

With Rachel Morris

Dr Rachel Morris

Listen to this episode

On this episode

How many times have you planned to do something really important, only to abandon it or rush to get to it at the last minute? Our present selves get caught up in the moment, distracted by short-term discomfort or other priorities, and we end up jettisoning the things we know we need to do. This makes us stressed, overwhelmed, and constantly playing catch-up.

Our past self – our wise self – often makes better decisions for us than we do in the present, so we need to back our wise self. This means trusting the choices we made when we were thinking clearly. By preparing ahead and using simple strategies, we can avoid the traps of the moment and follow through on what truly matters.

Setting reminders or alarms, building in buffer time, creating accountability and riding out the urge to procrastinate or distract ourselves can all help.

Life gets harder when we ignore our wise self. We end up rushing from one thing to the next without properly handling what’s important. Over time, the pressure compounds and we can end up feeling out of control.

But this episode has got future you covered, so you can start making plans your present self will stick to!

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Reasons to listen

  • To overcome procrastination and stick to decisions made by your wise self
  • For simple hacks like setting alarms, creating buffer zones, and using accountability to follow through on your goals
  • To discover how to handle discomfort in the moment and prioritise long-term benefits over short-term ease

Episode highlights

00:04:59

Relying on past-you, not present-you

00:05:55

1: Hack it with accountability

00:07:17

2: Set an inconvenient alarm

00:08:14

3: Make it difficult to do

00:09:07

4: Find some extrinsic motivation

00:10:31

5: Ignore it

00:10:59

6: Name it

00:11:59

7: Prepare for it

00:12:42

8: Surf the urge

00:13:36

9: Make a promise to yourself

00:14:14

10: Gamify it

00:15:04

11: Try it

00:15:25

Don’t beat yourself up

00:16:05

Leave room for spontaneity

00:17:41

Make a plan for next week

Episode transcript

[00:00:00] Rachel: Every Monday at 2. 45 in the afternoon my alarm goes off My alarm goes off to remind me to go down to the gym in the office where I work for my personal training session at 3 o’clock. Now it’s at 3 o’clock because there was no other time in the week we could fit it in and It’s on the day where I reserve to do all my prep my podcast planning, all my deep work and my deep thinking. [00:00:23] Rachel: Nine times out of ten when my alarm goes off, I snooze it so…

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