Video summary
In this discussion, Jimmy Carr introduces a powerful mental framework for decision-making: asking what your future self would want you to do today. This question is designed to pull individuals out of their immediate present moment and reduce reliance on confused chemical signals from the body that often drive impulsive behavior. By creating distance between current desires and long-term consequences, this technique depersonalizes difficult choices and encourages treating oneself with the same care one would offer a friend. The approach aligns closely with Jordan Peterson's philosophy of optimizing for long-term thinking rather than seeking immediate gratification, reminding listeners that every decision is essentially an investment in their future self across 24 hours, days, months, or even years. The core argument posits that satisfying momentary desires at the expense of one's future well-being rarely results in a good outcome because people live with the stories they tell themselves about past decisions far longer than the immediate impact of those actions. Without crystal balls to predict the future perfectly, this method serves as a practical tool for clairvoyance; Carr notes he cannot recall any decision that would be worse if made based on what one wishes they had done 24 hours later. Conversely, consistently acting only on current impulses while ignoring future regret creates a direct path toward misery and forces individuals to live with both the consequences of their actions and the negative narrative they construct about themselves for an extended period. This dynamic is particularly critical for introspective or ruminative thinkers who naturally analyze their behaviors and craft narratives around them. For these individuals, decisions are as much about defining the kind of person one tells oneself they are as they are about tangible outcomes. The negativity bias acts like a potent drug that permanently colors self-perception with regret; if someone makes poor choices today based on fleeting desires, they will likely spend years scouting for excuses to fit their actions into an existing story of failure or lack of change. This proves that one is not the person they thought they were and can lead to a permanent sense of being stuck in old patterns rather than evolving toward better versions of oneself. Carr emphasizes that while this method requires significant effort, it leaves essentially nowhere for individuals to hide from their own accountability when making bad decisions. The difficulty lies precisely because there is no easy escape hatch; you must confront the reality of what your future self would prefer right now versus what feels good in the moment. This rigorous standard ensures that choices are made with wisdom rather than impulse, acknowledging that we do not make these decisions for ourselves today but for our future selves who will inherit the results and the stories associated with them. Ultimately, choosing wisely prevents a lifetime of regret by ensuring that every action taken contributes positively to the long-term narrative one wishes to live out. The segment concludes with an acknowledgment that while this perspective is difficult to maintain consistently due to human nature's pull toward immediate comfort, it remains one of the most bulletproof tools available for navigating life's choices. By shifting focus from short-term pleasure to long-term integrity and well-being, individuals can avoid the trap of living a story filled with regret and excuses. The discussion underscores that true freedom comes not from doing whatever feels good in the moment but from having the discipline to act according to what one will wish they had done tomorrow, thereby crafting a life defined by intentional choices rather than reactive impulses driven by chemical confusion or emotional urgency.
Read the full video transcript
Jimmy Carr, good friend, one of wisdom
guests multiple times over and he
brought this idea up to Rogan when he
was on Rogan's show that him and me had
been working on for a little while and
it's the 24-hour you and this is one of
the best questions I think to ask
yourself when faced with a decision
which is what would you tomorrow want
you today to do and this is something
I've relied on for years to help me get
perspective and make better choices and
And the reason it's so effective, I
think, is it rips you out of the present
moment. It stops you from relying so
heavily on the confused chemical signals
coming from your body. Instead, it gives
you a bit more distance. It
depersonalizes the decision, helps you
treat yourself like a friend you're
responsible for helping. In Peterson
language, it forces you to optimize for
long-term thinking instead of immediate
gratification. That reminds you that
ultimately decisions are not being made
for you now. They're being made for you
in 24 hours and 24 days and 24 months.
You can see our decisions are
investments that we make into our
future. And the more ruminative and deep
of a thinker that you are, the more you
need to make decisions for your future
self, not yourself right now. Does that
make sense? So, optimizing to gratify
your desires in the moment at the
expense of the way that you will feel
and the story you will tell yourself
about yourself in the future is rarely a
good deal because you live with the
story of your decisions for far longer
than the impact of them.
So, you have to choose wisely. And we
don't have crystal balls to see into the
future. But this is about as close to a
tool of clairvoyance as I can think of.
In fact, I can't think of a single
decision, which would be worse if I
actually did what I wished I'd done 24
hours later. And I can't imagine.
Imagine if all you did was things that
you wanted to do now, but you in the
future would regret. That is just a
direct path toward misery. It's the mo
It's That sounds like hell.
It's a guaranteed way to make decisions
that you're going to have to not only
live with the consequences of, but for
even longer than that, you're going to
have to live with the story that you
tell yourself about being the kind of
person who made that sort of decision.
And again, especially if you are a
introspective, reflective, ruminative
sort of person who's going to think
about the things that you do and tell
yourself a story about what that means,
you need to be very very careful about
what you invest into that future story
of you because
the negativity bias is a hell of a drug.
And if it want, you have a
predisposition to think of yourself as a
bit of a piece of You will
permanently be scouting for any excuse
to fit your prior to that. Oh yeah, I
knew I was always going to do that
thing. I I've not changed at all. This
proves to me that I'm not the person I
thought I was.
Decisions
are as much about the sort of person
that you will tell yourself that you are
for having made the decision as the
actual impact of the decision itself.
What would you tomorrow want you today
to do? Pretty bulletproof
but difficult, right? Very difficult to
do because it gives you pretty much
nowhere to hide. There's essentially
nowhere to hide at all. And when you do
make bad decisions, it's on you.
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