Finished Product Fallacy: Why You Are a Stranger to Your Future Self

Ask anyone if they have changed significantly in the last ten years, and they will say "yes, absolutely." Ask them if they expect to change significantly in the next ten years, and they will likely shrug and say "probably not much."

This is the "End of History Illusion." We walk around with the unshakable conviction that the person we are right now is the finished product—the final, optimized version of our character. This illusion is the root of our worst decisions. We sign thirty-year mort...