Imaginable Summary

What if you could prepare for the future by imagining it? Your imagination is more than just a mental escape—it’s a tool for resilience and optimism.

1. Stretching Your Imagination Creates “Future Memory”

Imagination isn't just for dreams; it’s a powerful way to pre-experience potential futures. Jane McGonigal introduces the concept of episodic future thinking (EFT), a mental skill where you envision yourself in different future scenarios. This practice helps your brain stretch beyond what it already knows, creating “future memories” that can guide your decisions today.

For example, imagine life ten years from now. Take a deep mental dive into where you are, what you feel, and how your daily routine has changed. Does this imagined reality bring joy or dread? These "pre-feelings" can tell you if today’s path is leading toward a future you want. Consistently revisiting and refining this process strengthens your ability to plan and adapt.

Through EFT, you move past just thinking about the future; you simulate it. It involves asking yourself where you'll be, what might change, what you hope for, and how you'll feel. By actively engaging the senses—like imagining the warmth of the sun or the smell of cut grass—you make the future feel real and actionable.

Examples

• Envision waking up ten years from now to see how different life could feel.
• Use specific scenarios to anticipate whether goals align with your future desires.
• Simulate future outcomes vividly to predict whether you’re heading in the right direction.

2. Ten Years Is the Perfect Timeline for Change

McGonigal explains how a ten-year horizon provides enough time to imagine big shifts while still feeling manageable. People naturally think in decades, like categorizing their lives by age ranges or recalling cultural shifts like “the '90s.” This structure makes "ten years" resonate as both aspirational and actionable.

The psychology behind this timeline involves what McGonigal calls "time spaciousness," where the sense of having enough time reduces stress and boosts creativity. Instead of rushing or procrastinating, this perception ignites deliberate and optimistic action toward long-term goals. When you give yourself a decade, you allow room for reinvention.

To practice, try flipping everyday assumptions about the future. Imagine absurd but plausible ideas—such as shoes becoming free or owning just one pair due to environmental efforts. Stretching your mind into these uncharted scenarios makes envisioning big changes less intimidating and more exciting.

Examples

• Plan a tiny task, like mastering a skill, within a ten-year scope to unlock creativity.
• Create scenarios with topsy-turvy assumptions, like a cashless society or free housing.
• Use historical ten-year shifts—like societal changes in the 1920s—to inspire long-term thinking.

3. Future Clues Are Everywhere

The world is already offering hints about where it's heading. By learning how to spot "signals of change," you can begin assembling a clearer picture of possible futures. These signals—small, strange trends or phenomena—often predict larger forces at work.

For example, hybrid "pizzly bears" emerged because polar bears and grizzly bears, affected by climate change, began interbreeding. This development hints at biodiversity shifts and adaptive evolution. Finding such clues isn’t overwhelming; just type phrases like “future of urban living” or “future of education” into a search engine to start collecting insights.

Armed with these clues, you can identify global and personal trends. Pair this knowledge with your imagination to simulate challenges or even heartening possibilities. This exploration helps cultivate urgent optimism, giving you confidence to face the future without fear.

Examples

• Pizzly bears show how global warming impacts biodiversity evolution.
• The rise of the “zero-waste” movement reveals shifts in consumer habits.
• Search any topic’s “future of” to uncover hidden trends and sparks of hope.

4. Hard Empathy Fosters Future Connections

Empathy isn’t always easy, especially for versions of ourselves years from now. Studies show the brain perceives our future self as a stranger, making it difficult to act in ways that benefit them. McGonigal teaches us to cultivate what she calls “hard empathy”—imagining ourselves in drastically different circumstances.

To practice, immerse yourself in someone else’s reality—like people dealing with poverty or climate migration. Truly imagining their struggles and choices builds empathy not just for others, but for the future version of you. With hard empathy, you’re more likely to save money, plan ahead, and adopt future-friendly behaviors.

This cultivated empathy can extend globally, as you consider others on the planet. Visualizing shared struggles builds solidarity and solutions, showing how caring for yourself and others isn’t just moral—it’s practical for tackling impending challenges.

Examples

• Imagine living in conditions of extreme poverty to reframe daily privileges and challenges.
• Picture your future self at different stages of life, thinking of what they’ll need most.
• Practice empathy by analyzing how different economic or environmental policies might feel.

5. Games Teach Better Problem-Solving

Video games are more than entertainment—they nurture skills like resilience and adaptability. Each game presents threats and challenges, requiring players to creatively solve problems and make decisions. McGonigal links this sense of agency to a powerful skill: developed helpfulness.

This contrasts with learned helplessness, where past failures discourage effort. Games and future simulations train your mind to approach problems with confidence—whether overcoming a challenge or helping others. By identifying needs in imagined futures, you realize your unique talents can combat real-world challenges.

In McGonigal’s simulation projects, like EVOKE, players explore roles they might play in a future crisis. This experiential preparation bridges the gap between imagining outcomes and actively shaping them.

Examples

• Playing strategic games like "EVOKE" boosts readiness for complicated issues.
• Players of “The Sims” exercise planning and design adaptability for dynamic outcomes.
• Role-playing future scenarios fosters real-world problem-solving confidence.

6. Optimism Comes Through Balanced Preparation

A concept McGonigal calls "urgent optimism" involves staying realistic about future challenges while remaining hopeful and proactive. This balance keeps dread at bay and empowers you to act. It's not about ignoring risks but planning for them creatively and collaboratively.

For example, anticipating global risks like climate change doesn’t mean living in fear. Instead, use positive imagination to envision adaptive outcomes, like greener economies or sustainable cities, and start contributing toward them. This approach energizes rather than paralyzes.

Urgent optimism also welcomes collaboration. Sharing scenarios with others creates a shared vision for solutions, whether communities unify against environmental threats or neighborhoods embrace technological advancements.

Examples

• Imagine solutions like self-sufficient ecosystems or low-impact travel goals.
• List safe ways to cushion risks affecting your community, like disaster preparedness kits.
• Share hopeful, feasible ideas collectively to promote teamwork and engagement.

7. Pre-Experience Ten Days of Plausible Futures

McGonigal challenges readers to immerse themselves in future scenarios for ten consecutive days. This isn’t daydreaming—it is deliberate, active cognition. For instance, imagine a future with no trash collection. Start journaling ways you adapt, such as rethinking spending habits to avoid waste.

By living in a future scenario for an extended time, you begin developing intuitive solutions. This practice strengthens mental preparation for when major events really happen. You’ll feel less shocked and more in control because you’ve mentally rehearsed the situation.

This preparation technique also connects to trends like minimalism or zero waste. By imagining yourself fully living those ideals daily, you’re more likely to identify priorities and make tangible lifestyle shifts.

Examples

• Picture a future with transportation systems completely moved to electric and autonomous vehicles.
• Imagine water conservation in a city facing drought conditions.
• Simulate a cashless economy to rethink how purchases fit into long-term budgets.

8. Absurdity Fuels Creativity

To foster bold ideas, start with ridiculous assumptions. McGonigal refers to Dator's law, which states any useful future prediction might at first seem absurd. Challenge your imagination by flipping normal assumptions upside down.

For instance, imagine shoes becoming “free”—paid for instead by data collection. This kind of imaginative play leads to plausible insights that could change the way you see reality and its potentials.

To keep this fun, treat the absurd as a game. Build scenarios based on wild “what-ifs” and engage with how life might look from that perspective.

Examples

• Assume humans build underwater cities due to coastal flooding.
• Predict that health food becomes government-subsidized, widespread, and free.
• Craft detailed stories of robots assigned as therapy pets in aged care facilities.

9. Take Small Daily Steps Toward Long-Term Possibilities

The future starts today. Whether through journaling, scenario role-playing, or refining goals, daily efforts keep imagination sharp and progress steady. As McGonigal says, imagining plausible futures is about shifting mindsets, not necessarily our physical world first.

For example, keep a dedicated "future journal." Write and continually revisit your pre-feelings about scenarios, practice empathy exercises, and celebrate tiny victories that align with long-term aspirations.

By doing so, you create a feedback loop: small steps now foster a mental roadmap for significant changes later.

Examples

• Jot down one habit change weekly that feels future-oriented.
• Share plausible changes with friends to keep discussions creative yet actionable.
• Celebrate efforts even when results take years, sustaining motivation.

Takeaways

1. Practice episodic future thinking weekly by vividly imagining where and who you will be in ten years.
2. Strengthen hard empathy by imagining how radically different life could feel for your future self or others.
3. Approach global and personal challenges through "urgent optimism"—mind simulations that embrace both risks and opportunities.