Letter to future self

To write a letter to your future self, you need a pen and paper, or the box further down this page, and about twenty minutes.

1. Pick the day you will open it. Choose a real date, like your next birthday, and write it on top of the letter. One year is a good start.
2. Write where you are now, in plain facts. Say where you live and who with, what a normal day looks like, what you pay in rent, and who you talk to most. Use numbers where you can. These are the things you will forget.
3. Write what you hope for. Make each hope something you can check, like “I hope you run three mornings a week”.
4. Write what you are afraid of. One or two honest worries are enough. Later you will want to know whether they came true.
5. Sign it, and put it where you will find it. Seal a paper letter in an envelope with the opening date on the front. Put a note in your calendar on that date that says where the letter is.

Writing a letter to your future self keeps a record of who you are now. Here are two things researchers have found.

People expect to change less than they do.

In a large study, people of every age said they had changed a lot in the last ten years. But when they were asked about the next ten years, they expected to stay almost the same (Quoidbach and colleagues, 2013). The same went for small things, like favorite music, favorite food and a closest friend. People expected theirs to stay the same, but people who were ten years older said theirs had changed. That is why the plain facts belong in your letter.

Writing a reply from your future self may help.

In one study, high school students in Japan wrote a letter to themselves three years ahead. Some of them then wrote a second letter: a reply, as if they were that older self writing back. A month later, the students who wrote both letters said they were planning their careers more than the students who wrote one (Chishima and Wilson, 2021). To try it, add a few lines at the bottom of your letter that start “Dear me, back then”.

The two findings link to the studies below. We read each one for this page, the whole text or its summary. The example letter and the questions are our own.

1. Quoidbach, J., Gilbert, D. T. and Wilson, T. D. (2013). The end of history illusion. Science, 339(6115), 96 to 98.
2. Chishima, Y. and Wilson, A. E. (2021). Conversation with a future self: A letter-exchange exercise enhances student self-continuity, career planning, and academic thinking. Self and Identity, 20(5), 646 to 671.