Bonji Hot Takes Volume 16
Welcome back to another edition of Bonji Hot Takes! Happy Thursday, we hope your week is going well and you are excited for another fast-approaching weekend. Planning is key… we all know it. Specifically, long-term plans are necessary for almost all aspects of life. Whether you are 18 planning your career, 25 opening a restaurant, or 50 starting a new business venture, planning for the future is essential. However, the perfect plan usually never goes so perfectly in reality. Change is inevitable, but we often never account for it when planning.
_______________________
The End of History Illusion In Morgan Housel's The Psychology of Money, a life of a young man is briefly detailed. At five years old, he wants to drive tractors when he grows up. Then, he wants to take on a more lucrative role as a lawyer. Next, he decides he wants to spend more time with his family and takes a flexible, lower-paying job. Soon enough, he has to become a stay-at-home parent because daily child-care is too much. Finally, at age 70, he realizes that even though he felt he planned and made the right choices, he can't afford retirement. All of this is to help explain “The End of History Illusion." The End of History Illusion is the “tendency for people to be keenly aware of how much they've changed in the past, but to underestimate how much their personalities, desires, and goals are likely to change in the future.” In other words, we can easily see how much we've changed to the point we are at now. Yet, we don't give much thought to how we may change in the future. This goes to show that planning may only take you so far in a life of constant change. As we go through life, so many factors influence who we are; and a majority of the time… we never see it coming. Most people live in the “illusion” that history has come to an end and we will be the same person in five years that we are today. Obviously, we know we won't be the exact same person, but we fail to account for the endless possibilities that may influence our decisions, desires, and personalities down the road. All in all, don't stop planning, it truly is necessary. But still, keep in mind that you will change, more often than not. Therefore, try your best to avoid extreme ends of planning. Accept the reality of us changing our minds, it's constantly happening.
