The 24-Hour You
Ask what tomorrow-you wants today-you to do, then do that.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 82%
A single-question decision rule for stepping outside the present moment. When facing a choice, you ask what the version of you 24 hours from now would want the current you to do. The distance strips out the confused chemical signals of the moment, depersonalises the decision, and forces you to optimise for the long-term story you'll tell about yourself rather than immediate gratification. Williamson stretches the horizon further, framing decisions as investments made for you in 24 hours, 24 days, and 24 months. The power is that it leaves nowhere to hide: because tomorrow-you can see clearly, doing the thing you'll wish you'd done becomes the obvious move. He argues he cannot recall a single decision that would have turned out worse had he simply done what he later wished he had.
Origin
Chris Williamson and comedian Jimmy Carr developed the idea together over WhatsApp; Carr first aired it publicly on Joe Rogan's show. Williamson says he has relied on the question for a long time to gain perspective and make better choices.
Core principles
- 01You live with the story of a decision far longer than its impact.
- 02In-the-moment chemical signals are unreliable narrators.
- 03Depersonalising a choice makes you treat yourself like a friend you're responsible for.
- 04Decisions are investments made into your future self.
- 05The more ruminative your mind, the more you must decide for future-you.
How to run it
- 1
Catch the urge
When you feel a strong pull toward an in-the-moment action, stop before acting on it.
Pro tip The stronger the chemical pull, the more the question is needed.
- 2
Ask the core question
Pose it literally: what would you tomorrow want you today to do? Let tomorrow-you answer.
Watch out Don't rephrase it into what you feel like doing now — that defeats the depersonalisation.
- 3
Extend the time horizon
If the answer is unclear, widen the frame to 24 days and 24 months to see the trajectory the decision sets.
- 4
Weigh the self-story
Ask what the decision says about the kind of person you are, not just its practical result. You live with that story longer than the outcome.
Pro tip For negativity-biased people, a bad decision becomes lasting evidence against yourself — factor that cost in.
- 5
Act on the future-self verdict
Do what tomorrow-you endorsed, accepting that it gives you nowhere to hide and puts the outcome squarely on you.
Watch out It is deliberately hard precisely because it removes excuses.
In the wild
Facing a 'one more drink' or 'skip tomorrow's workout' urge, you pause and ask what tomorrow-you would want. Tomorrow-you never wants the hangover or the missed session, so you decline. The decision stops being a present-tense sacrifice and becomes an investment you're grateful for the next morning.
→ Consistent choices that compound because they're made for the self who has to live with them.
Common mistakes
Answering as present-you in disguise
If you let the moment's cravings speak for 'tomorrow-you', the question becomes theatre and you rationalise the easy choice.
Only weighing outcomes, not the story
The rule works because it accounts for the narrative you'll carry about yourself; ignoring that half loses most of its force for reflective people.
Is it for you?
Best for
Introspective, ruminative people prone to living with the narrative of their own decisions.
Not ideal for
Purely trivial choices where the deliberation cost outweighs any consequence.
From the transcript
“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…”
“You live with the story of your decisions for far longer than the impact of them.”
“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…”
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