Is Presentism Holding You Back? How To Tell And 3 Ways To Overcome It
- Oct 31, 2022
- 4 min read
Written by: Sallie Wagner, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Are you plagued by presentism? Judging your past self harshly in relation to who you are now? If that’s you, it’s time to give yourself a break. Judging your yesterdays by the same standards of today keeps you living in the past. It holds you back from moving into a better tomorrow.
Presentism
Presentism is when we interpret past events, behaviors, etc. in light of our current beliefs and knowledge. It’s when we view our yesterdays through the lenses of our attitudes and experiences of today.
Despite the fact that some people intentionally bring presentism to their view of the past, it’s best seen as a fallacy. It’s a form of cultural bias that distorts our understanding of the matter being considered.
Certainly, including the anachronistic characteristics of presentism in fiction can be entertaining. For example, in the movie, A Knight’s Tale, I love the juxtaposition of more modern music with medieval jousting tournaments.
However, because presentism is a form of cognitive bias, when we apply it to the real world, it becomes a mental trap that prevents us from thinking critically. This is equally true whether we take this approach with history, or whether we take the approach in our own lives.
The Bias of Presentism
First, let’s clarify that some comparisons between our past selves and our current selves may be helpful and motivating. When you contemplate how much you’ve changed and developed as an individual, or in your job, profession, career, or business... that can serve to reinforce your goals and objectives for life.
For example, you may find it motivating to contemplate:
your upward career trajectory
your improved fitness
your financial security
The observation of those types of facts can be a good thing.
But, when we then apply moral judgment to the past using the same standard that we apply today, we risk inflicting harm more than doing good.
That’s because when you examine your own life through the lens of presentism, you fail to think critically. You become biased against yourself.
Consider it – when you view your life in light of presentism, you’re holding your past self to the same standard you have today. Yet, your past self didn’t have the benefit of the knowledge and experience you have now. So holding past you to the same standards as present you isn’t really an apt comparison.
Would you think badly of an infant for not being able to walk and talk soon after birth? Of course not, because the baby lacks developmental capacity and knowledge.
Would you criticize a child for not yet knowing calculus and physics when they’re first learning simple addition and subtraction? Again, no.
Would your future self judge your present self harshly for what you’ll know at some point in the future? One would hope not!
Yet, we tend to hold ourselves to these types of unrealistic standards, as if it would even be possible to imbue our past self with the knowledge, experience, and wisdom of our current self. Or to imbue our present self with the knowledge, experience, and wisdom of our future self.
When we do that, we condemn ourselves to embarrassment, guilt, and shame. Paradoxically, by applying presentism, we condemn ourselves to live in the past. We’re unable to move forward into the future in a meaningful way.
Overcoming Presentism
There are many ways we can overcome the bias of presentism – here are three easy ones:
First, develop an awareness of when and how it happens. You can make changes only when you bring your awareness to the issue.
Next, recognize that your past self was doing the best you could with the resources you had at the time. Give your past self a break – reject that bias against yourself.
Third, separate your previous self from who you are now – recognize that your previous self is a part of who you are, not your entire self. Apply your critical thinking skills to your previous self. Recall not only what you were thinking at the time – recall how you were thinking. Was your thought process distorted by confirmation bias, cognitive dissonance, mind reading, or group thinking?
As you follow these three steps – awareness, recognition, and critical thinking – you can overcome the plague of presentism. You’ll understand that, although your past self may not have been the person you choose to be now, that past self was the best self you could be at that time. And you are now the person you are in the present because of that past self. So you may consider expressing gratitude instead of passing judgment.
Leaving Presentism in the Past for a New Future
When you follow these three simple steps, you’ll build a practice of critical thinking that will equip you to avoid falling into the mental trap of presentism. And, as you get rid of presentism and see your past from the perspective of the knowledge, experience, and wisdom you had at that time in your past, you can really give yourself a break that your past self deserves. As you leave presentism in the past, you will find yourself more present in the present. You can allow yourself the grace of being the person you were then, which led to the person you are now, which means that you’ll be free to create a new and better future.
Sallie Wagner, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Sallie Wagner – speaker, author, lawyer, real estate broker, What’s Next Strategist, and Life Alchemist! Sallie employs Emotional Freedom Techniques, evolved Neurolinguistic Programming, and trauma-aware modalities, so clients launch into action for rapid, concrete results, as they ditch unwanted habits, behaviors, fears, phobias, limiting beliefs, and decisions.
Sallie spent the majority of her law career in the corporate world. In addition to her other business initiatives, she currently provides broker and contracts compliance services to real estate brokerages throughout Florida. She also owns and operates a real estate school.
