You did it! You’ve made the decision to make a change in your life for your benefit or others’! For the sake of an example, let’s say you decided to start eating healthier. But then you find yourself in front of your favorite desert and a battle begins in your head.  One voice tells you to not eat it; the other voice is trying to convince you to go ahead.  Unfortunately that second voice is pretty damn convincing most of the time, presenting us with all these reasons why we should go ahead with it, and eventually we give in.

We do in fact have multiple voices in our head, this alone is not an issue, it’s simply how our brain is wired.  What can give us an advantage in being able to follow through on making a change is having the awareness that there will be a battle within our head; there will be a conflict, each trying to convince you to make a different decision.  This will allow you to be prepared for what’s coming and in turn have you equipped to be able to shut down the voice that is trying to keep you from making the change.

The story below is from Homer’s Odyssey (Greek Myth) and relates to this topic.

Leaving Hades, Ulysses and his men sailed for many days without sight of land. Not before long, though, strange disquieting sounds reached the ears of the men aboard the ship. The sounds tugged at their hearts and made them want to weep with joy. Ulysses at once realized that they were approaching the Sirens that he had been warned about, beautiful women who sung such enchanting songs that any man who heard their voice would become so captivated that they would cease to act rationally. 

Ulysses had been told to block every man’s ears with wax for if any were to hear the song of the Sirens, he would surely jump off the ship, or steer the ship towards the rocks surrounding the Sirens, both leading to an inevitable death. Ulysses did exactly that with his men, but he himself wanted to hear their strange song. He thus ordered his sailors to tie him up to the mast so he could not jump into the sea or steer the ship in an attempt to meet the Sirens.

With their ears blocked with wax, the men heard nothing and the ship passed near the Sirens. Suddenly, Ulysses wanted to get free of his bonds and go towards the Sirens for their song had just become clear and it was very beautiful and captivating. But the ropes were very tight and fortunately he could not untie himself. His fellows could hear neither the Sirens neither the screams of their leader, who was praying them to untie him. As the ship was sailing away from the shore, the song of the Sirens was fading out and they passed without harm.

What Ulysses did is make a pact with his future self.  Knowing full well that his future self would decide to go towards the Sirens, he took measures to make sure that wasn’t going to be the outcome.  This is where the term Ulysses Contract or Ulysses Pact comes from. 

So if we go back to the example, knowing full well that your future self will probably have the voice in your head that’s telling you to eat the desert win the battle, what measures can you take to make sure that’s not the outcome?  If the change you’re trying to make is saving money, can you have a certain amount from your paycheck automatically deposited into an account you can’t touch for x amount of time, knowing your future self will spend it if it’s available?  If it’s changing a certain habit, can you tell a bunch of family and friends about it so you’re held accountable by multiple people and not just yourself, knowing that your future self might not follow through on it?  And so it goes for any change we’re trying to make.

Making a change is hard, no one should deny that.  Having the awareness of what goes on in your head and being able to make a Ulysses Pact with yourself will put you in a better position for success to make the change happen!

Note: I was introduced to the story of Ulysses in the book Incognito by David Eagleman.  In this book, Eagleman refers to the voices in our head as the “team of rivals”.  I highly recommend this book if you want to learn more about this topic.