Self Development is Like Time Travel? Great Scott!
“Back To The Future” is an absolute classic that has crossed generational boundaries and continuously proved to be a timeless film (no pun intended).
From a scientific standpoint, it also hits one of the 2 bigger ideologies of time travel:
You cannot do anything that hasn’t already been done, time travel just completes the loop (Think “12 Monkeys”)
Small change in the past can have a massive impact to the present (“Back To The Future”, or “The Simpsons: Tree House of Horror V - The Time Travel Toaster”)
Looking to The Past to Solve The Future
Hindsight is 20/20. You know this saying. It’s the idea that now that we know the outcome, we can pinpoint the things in our past that maybe we should have changed.
In the Sci-Fi world, especially in time travel, we know the things we CAN’T or SHOULDN’T change because of the impact the may have on the present.
What’s interesting about these views of time travel is that they don’t need to just be applied to the past.
These are the same mentalities we can use in our lives today to see how to frame our future.
Let’s rephrase the 2 ideologies from past to present and look at them again.
Nothing I can do will change my future, my fate is already set
A small change today can have massive impact to my future
“Fate” Mindset - Nothing Will Change
The first way of looking at life is very much a victim mentality. It’s been done for me or to me and I can’t change it. Someone else is in control of my life and my fate.
If you don’t make an effort to choose for yourself, the world will absolutely do it for you.
The worst part about this is that the world around you will relegate you to a life that it sees best suited for itself. This is where many will blame the rich or those in power, but power is only where we allow it to be.
If you don’t choose a life for yourself you are GIVING that power to those around you:
Job pushing you to do things because it’s best for the bottom line
Family member insisting that you act a certain way because that’s how THEY want you to live
Spouse demanding you change who you are
I’m not advocating that you should walk around and give “the man” the middle finger all day long, but what I’m saying is that you need to be aware of the decisions you make and the decisions you let other people make for you.
You need to make sure you control your own destiny and don’t live with regret
Personally, I can’t stand the idea of thinking this way. I am a firm believer in the next idea. I’ll even let the man himself, Doc Brown, explain.
Small Change Today - Massive Impact Tomorrow
Often in science this is called the butterfly effect.
From Wikipedia: “In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state.”
In the movie “Back To The Future 2” Biff goes back in time to give his younger self a copy of a Sports Almanac with all the winning scores for every big sporting event over the next few decades. With this, young Biff is able to create a tremendous amount of wealth for himself by betting on these events over the years.
Doc Brown explains to Marty the impact of something like this. If an action is monumental enough, it can create a new timeline and a new “present” for someone returning to the “future”
Let’s put this in the context of self development for a bit.
Can a something like a book have a big enough impact to completely change what your life will look like in 30 years?
ABSO-FREAKIN-LUTELY
It may not be something as directly impactful as the Sports Almanac was for Biff, but you need to keep in mind that 30 years is a LONG fucking time.
For me, 30 years ago I was 7 years old. My life has TREMENDOUSLY changed in that time. I have a wife, house, kid, dog, career, 2 cars, DJing business, Graphic Design Business, and so much more. At 7 I was worried about if I could remember the “Pledge of Allegiance”.
How Can We Apply This To Our Lives?
Let’s keep this VERY simple and outline 4 easy steps:
Look back at the past - what did you do that helped? What mistakes did you make? What do you wish you had done better? Remember that and apply it to today
If Nothing Changed, What Would Future You Regret? - Eventually, today will be your future’s past. Imagine you stayed on the trajectory you’re on. You’re on your way to becoming Old Loser Biff. What would you look back and regret. Whatever it is STOP doing that TODAY.
“I regret sitting on the couch & not getting in shape”
“I regret not spending more time with my family”
“I regret not following my passion and building my dream business”
If Everything Changed, What Would Future You Be Doing Today? - Image what your perfect life would look like. What would that future version of you be doing right? Whatever it is START doing that TODAY.
“Future me would be out looking for new business opportunities”
“Future me would be out networking”
“Future me would be brain storming new ideas”
Let Time Work For You - We live in a world of instant gratification. We think the only way to change is to win the lottery. You need to learn to enjoy the journey. If I told you that in 10 years you are 100% certain to be wealthy, would you be willing to wait? It may be a long time, but the goal is worth it. Keep this in mind as you begin something new. Small changes compound over time. The Butterfly Effect is more than just chaos theory (and an Ashton Kutcher movie), it’s also success theory.
Be willing to work toward your goal
Be willing to outlast
Be willing to wait
I promise your efforts WILL be worth it.
Until Next Time!
-A.J. Zampella