Write a Letter to Your Future Self

“A powerful exercise for self-actualization that everyone should try at least once.

This has several benefits:

• it allows you to externalize your thoughts or feelings (like journaling)

• it forces you to be more mindful of how you are living your life

• it creates accountability and commitment toward your goals

• it helps you document your life’s journey for future reference

Overall, it’s a great way to take a step back and evaluate your life as a whole, as well as to clarify your direction for the future.

How to Write a Letter to Your Future Self

1. Grab a pen and a sheet of paper. You can also do this digitally on your computer (in fact there’s a Website that will send this letter to your own email address on a chosen date), but in my experience, a physical letter with your unique handwriting is much more powerful.

2. Pick a time frame you want to work with. It could be anywhere from 6 months to a few decades — it’s totally up to you. Generally, 3–5 year time frame might be the best as it allows you to make major progress in your life, while still being a relatively short period of time.

3. In the top-right corner, write the date of writing, your current address, or any other information you’d like to see for reference when reading back the letter.

4. Proceed to write the letter. If you don’t know how to begin, you can use the phrase: “Dear Future Self, I am you from the past…” and then see what comes up for you. It doesn’t have to be formal, speak to them as your closest friend.

5. Tell your future self all about your current life — what’s on your mind, how you spend your time, what problems or challenges you are dealing with, what success you have achieved recently, etc.

6. Tell your future self about your goals — what you are planning to achieve in the next few years, or all the way until you will be reading back this letter.

7. Keep writing whatever comes up for you. The letter can be as long as you want. Don’t stop until you feel like you’ve got nothing else to say and want to conclude the letter.

8. Conclude the letter and wish your future self the best. Don’t forget to put your unique signature on the bottom.

9. Fold up the letter and put it in an envelope. On the backside of the envelope write “TO BE OPENED:” and fill in the exact date you want to read it back. For example, if you were writing it 5 years into the future, put the same date as today plus five years.

10. Store the letter somewhere safe — where you’ll (hopefully) find it a few months before the opening date. Don’t worry too much if you don’t open it on the exact date. It will still be a cool experience once you find it, whenever that happens to be.”

Read the full article on Medium

✨Takeaway: This activity is a good method to symbolically capture your emotions and thoughts right now for later use. You will catch a glimpse of your former self when you open the letter. When you read it back, you will be able to see your growth!

✨Reflection: What are your thoughts on writing a letter to your future self?

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