Write a letter from your future self

Have your 80-year-old self write back about the decision you’re facing now.

Why it works

Abstract "imagine the future" prompts stay shallow; writing in the voice of a concrete future self increases vividness and connection to that self, which research links to more future-oriented choices. A felt, specific future self — rather than a stranger — is more likely to actually influence the present decision toward what it will care about.

How to do it

1. Write a short letter as your future self, looking back on this choice.
2. Let that self say plainly which path it’s glad you took, and why.
3. Read it back and notice what it makes obvious about the decision.

Evidence

Draws on future-self continuity research showing that feeling connected to a vivid future self leads to more patient, future-oriented decisions. The letter is a concrete device for inducing that vividness. Experiments make the effect concrete: making the future self vivid — for instance, exposure to an age-progressed rendering of oneself — measurably increased people’s willingness to act in that later self’s favor, which is the same vividness the letter aims to summon. (observational)

Future-self continuity effects are supported; the letter exercise is a practical application rather than the specific tested manipulation.

Sources

• Hershfield et al., future-self continuity research (vivid connection to future self improves long-term decisions)
• Hershfield, H. E. (2011). Future self-continuity: How conceptions of the future self transform intertemporal choice. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1235(1), 30-43.
• Hershfield, H. E., Goldstein, D. G., Sharpe, W. F., Fox, J., Yeykelis, L., Carstensen, L. L., & Bailenson, J. N. (2011). Increasing saving behavior through age-progressed renderings of the future self. Journal of Marketing Research, 48(SPL), S23-S37.

Common mistake

Keeping the future self vague and generic, so it carries no emotional weight and changes nothing about the present choice.