Why Having Things To Look Forward To Is So Important

Have you ever counted down the days to an important date? Maybe it was a vacation you were looking forward to going on. Or, maybe it was a special holiday when you’d be spending time with loved ones. No matter the occasion, you probably felt excited just thinking about the upcoming event – like a kid waiting for Christmas Day to finally arrive. 

Even as an adult, having things to look forward to outside of work and day-to-day responsibilities is important. The positive anticipation created by having things to look forward to can have many health and personal benefits in our lives. This could include purchasing tickets to a concert you want to attend or booking yourself a massage. But creating positive anticipation in your life doesn’t have to be some costly or time-consuming thing. That is, unless you want it to be. 

In fact, you can reap these benefits on a more consistent basis by incorporating things you look forward to into your daily life. Seemingly small things such as treating yourself to takeout or looking forward to a new episode of your favorite TV show each week can be equally as beneficial as planning an extended vacation. The main idea is to schedule activities you enjoy, however small, into your calendar on a regular basis. Check out this list of ways to create positive anticipation in your life.

Now, let’s dive into the benefits of having things to look forward to!

Boosts Mood

Did you know that having things to look forward to in life can give your mood a positive boost? This is because being excited about the future causes your body to release dopamine – the “feel-good” hormone.

Having too little dopamine can cause a variety of mental and physical health issues.

In this way, having things to look forward to can act as a preventive measure in protecting yourself against mental and physical diseases.

Reduces Stress

Positive anticipation can not only make you happier, but it can also relieve stress.

This 2015 study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology investigated the “impact of anticipating positive events on responses to stress”. It concluded that, “anticipating a positive event is uniquely related to decreased negative emotion”. 

So, having things to look forward to is a great way to combat the stressors of daily life. When you positively anticipate the future, it makes the present – no matter how tedious it may seem at the time – feel more bearable. 

Provides Motivation

Having things to look forward to can provide motivation for working through current challenges. Knowing that you have something to look forward to once you accomplish what needs to be done makes the necessary tasks feel much more manageable.

In this way, creating positive anticipation can be leveraged as a powerful motivator, both in your personal and professional life. 

The science behind this is that our brains are naturally wired to chase rewards. This is because when we accomplish a task or reach a milestone we’ve been working toward, our brains’ release dopamine. This is exactly why it feels so good to cross things off your to-do list or reach a personal goal! 

Because of this, we can hack our productivity by creating motivation through positive anticipation. 

In his revolutionary book, Atomic Habits, James Clear writes about a method based on using positive anticipation as a motivator. He refers to this method as “temptation bundling”. As he describes it in his book, “temptation bundling works by linking an action you want to do with an action you need to do”. In other words, after you finish a necessary task, you reward yourself by immediately doing something you enjoy. 

For instance, you need to clear out your email inbox, but you want to relax. Using Jame’s temptation bundling technique, you could come up with the following formula for yourself:

I will spend 15 minutes working on clearing out my inbox (need) and then I will relax by taking a bubble bath (want).

This not only makes the necessary tasks feel less stressful, it also provides your brain with instant gratification, which triggers the release of dopamine. As James elaborates in his book, temptation bundling makes the tedious tasks appear more attractive, making you more likely to do them. In this way, positive anticipation can be used to provide motivation and ultimately increase productivity.

Creates Self-Discipline

Having things to look forward to can create self-discipline in the present by serving as a motivator to stay focused and work towards your goals.

Creating positive anticipation can also help you practice delayed gratification – a key aspect of building self-discipline. Instead of seeking immediate rewards, you are willing to wait and work towards a more significant reward in the future.

Anticipating future events can also encourage you to manage your time more efficiently. When you have some big, exciting reward to look forward to in the future, you may feel more motivated to avoid procrastinating and prioritize important tasks in order to ensure that you can fully enjoy the upcoming event.

Additionally, having something to look forward to can make it easier to resist temptations that might otherwise derail your progress toward your goals. The anticipation of the future reward can outweigh the immediate gratification of giving in to temptations, thereby building self-discipline.

Improves Life Satisfaction

Having things to look forward to can improve one’s life satisfaction. 

There’s a major difference between being alive and really living life to the fullest and exploring everything it has to offer. Having things to look forward to creates adventure in your life and breaks up the monotony of day-to-day responsibilities. 

Creating moments, big and small, to look forward to is beneficial to your mental, physical, and emotional health. Scheduling and planning for things that bring you joy is an essential act of self-care. 

Filling your calendar with happy, fun, silly, exciting moments can make your life feel more fulfilling and in turn improve how satisfied you feel with your life.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it’s important to create positive anticipation in your life. Having things to look forward to can greatly benefit many areas of your life – including your mental and physical health. Creating positive anticipation can be however big or small as you like. In fact, it’s often a good idea to incorporate both into your life where you can.

Check out this post for ideas on ways – both big and small – to create positive anticipation for yourself!

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