Low time preference is trainable.
We talk about low time preference like it's something that the process of holding sound money does to us.
Hold Bitcoin, and you defer gratification by default. ie: don't spend today what could be worth more tomorrow.
This is true, holding Bitcoin does lower our time preference. It's also a skill you can build directly
Turns out that part has been measured across hundreds of studies.
The underlying skill is the ability to choose the larger reward later over the smaller one now. You train it with your own imagination.
When people picture a specific future in vivid detail, they discount it less and wait for the bigger reward more often.
Researchers call it "episodic future thinking". In randomized tests it measurably lowered how steeply people discounted the future.
If you make your future concrete enough, you will value it enough to wait for it.
One concrete example (of many): put friction between impulse and action, such as the "wait 10 minutes" rule before a purchase, snack, or reply to someone who just said something ignorant about Bitcoin on social media. You're not banning the thing. You are inserting a delay so the impulse passes and the deliberate choice gets a chance to take over. Over time, the pause becomes automatic.
Low time preference is a muscle that can be trained.
We talk about low time preference like it's something that the process of holding sound money does to us.
Hold Bitcoin, and you defer gratification by default. ie: don't spend today what could be worth more tomorrow.
This is true, holding Bitcoin does lower our time preference. It's also a skill you can build directly
Turns out that part has been measured across hundreds of studies.
The underlying skill is the ability to choose the larger reward later over the smaller one now. You train it with your own imagination.
When people picture a specific future in vivid detail, they discount it less and wait for the bigger reward more often.
Researchers call it "episodic future thinking". In randomized tests it measurably lowered how steeply people discounted the future.
If you make your future concrete enough, you will value it enough to wait for it.
One concrete example (of many): put friction between impulse and action, such as the "wait 10 minutes" rule before a purchase, snack, or reply to someone who just said something ignorant about Bitcoin on social media. You're not banning the thing. You are inserting a delay so the impulse passes and the deliberate choice gets a chance to take over. Over time, the pause becomes automatic.
Low time preference is a muscle that can be trained.