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Short-term thinking can lead to regrets or missed opportunities on an individual or systems level.

Mental time travel is a technique that benefits our decision-making processes through reverse thinking.

Future Design is an example of mental time travel that benefits organizations, industries, and governments.

This post was authored by Jayden Wan, a Stanford University student studying Civil Engineering. Jayden is passionate about the built environment and policy, and volunteers at Elders Action Network's Future Design Group and Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action.

It turns out that you don’t need a time-traveling DeLorean to explore the future. By taking a moment to pause, close your eyes, and engage your imagination, you can time-travel directly from your mind.

A growing movement throughout the world is embracing the practice of “mental time travel,” a remarkable cognitive skill that allows us to step outside the “now” and vividly inhabit both distant pasts and deep futures.

In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we’re often trapped in “short-termism.” This is a near-term perspective that prioritizes immediate results while neglecting long-term health. We see this in a tech industry that values quarterly profits over human well-being, the depletion of our natural resources, and political systems that swing wildly every election cycle, losing vital momentum. While "thinking in the moment" was once a survival skill that kept our ancestors alive, the modern world allows us much more than just survival—and we have the ability to pursue goals like long-term satisfaction, stability, and sustainability.

By traveling through our past, present, and future, we can identify our current trajectory and adjust as we see fit.

Mental Time........

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