Letter to Your Future Self: Template and Example

The letter starts it. The week is the point. Most guides stop at sealing the letter. This one adds a short reply from your future self and a seven-day plan that turns the letter into one real act.

How do I write a letter to my future self?

Set aside half an hour and use paper or a plain document.

1. Pick a date. One year from today works well.
2. Start with today. Describe where you are now in plain facts: what you do most days, what you keep putting off, what you care about.
3. Describe the person you want to be. Write about what they do, not how they feel or look. "They call their brother every few weeks" is clearer than "they are a better person".
4. Name one difference. Pick a single way that person acts that you do not, yet.
5. Ask them a few questions. See the list below.
6. End with one act for this week. Something small, specific and yours to do. Write the day and time.
7. Write the reply. Answer your own letter as the person you will be. More on this below.

No evidence shows one year is the best distance; the studies below asked people to write three or 20 years ahead. A year simply makes a first step easy to name. If you prefer ten years, write to ten years, and still finish with something for this week.

What should I put in the letter?

A page is plenty. Answer each line in your own words.

Leave out what you cannot control. "I hope you got the promotion" depends on other people. "I hope you asked for the bigger project" is something you could do.

What questions should I ask my future self?

Ask about choices, not reassurance. "Are you happy?" invites a guess. "What did you stop doing?" gives you something to work with.

• What do you do on an ordinary Tuesday that I do not?
• What did you stop putting off, and when did you start?
• Who did you make time for?
• What would you tell me to do first, this week?
• What are you glad I kept doing?

Pick two or three to answer in the reply.

An example letter, before and after

Example: here is a first draft that sounds kind but leads nowhere.

Dear future me, I hope you are happier and more settled. I hope you finally sorted things out with your friends and stopped being so busy. You deserve it. Love, me.

Nothing in it can happen on a Thursday. Here is the same aim, rewritten with the template.

The second version gives you one act you control, a time and a clear finish line.

Why write a reply from your future self?

After the letter, swap roles. Write back to yourself as the person you will be in a year. Answer your own questions. Tell your present self what to do first. Keep it to a few lines.

Example reply: "Call Sam on Thursday. It will feel awkward for the first minute and then it will not. Do not wait until work is quieter. It will not be."

One small study supports this step. Researchers asked students at a vocational high school in Japan to write to themselves three years ahead and then write the reply. According to the authors' own summary, only students who wrote both the letter and the reply felt more connected to their future self afterwards. A month later, the same group reported more career planning and more willingness to study. Students who wrote only the letter showed no change. That is one group in one country, measured by self-report, and the summary gives no sample sizes. Still, the reply takes only ten more minutes.

A seven-day plan from letter to action

The letter names one act. These seven days make sure it happens, and that you keep an honest note of what did.

If the act did not happen, write that down too. Was the time wrong? Was the act too big? Change one thing and choose a new day. A missed plan is not a verdict on you. Keep these notes in a progress journal so you can see later what you actually did.

When should I open my letter?

Open it on the date you wrote to, usually a year from now. Reread it briefly on day six of the plan above, then put it away.

When you open it, compare it with your notes, not your memory. If the aim itself has moved, write a new letter.

Where can I send a letter to my future self?

• Paper: seal it in an envelope, write the opening date on the front and keep it somewhere you will find it.
• Calendar or email: paste the letter into a calendar event a year from now, or schedule an email to yourself if your service allows it.
• FutureMe: a website that emails your letter back on a date you choose. Its homepage offers delivery in six months, one, three, five or ten years, or on a chosen date. You verify your email address, and you can keep a letter private or make it public but anonymous. Check its terms and any costs on the site before you sign up.

Pick the option you will still be able to find in a year.

Does thinking about your future self change what you do?

Possibly a little, in some studies. The evidence is smaller and less certain than many articles suggest.

• An aged avatar and saving. In a 2011 study, 50 university students saw an age-progressed avatar of their own face in a virtual-reality mirror. They then put more of a hypothetical $1,000 towards retirement than students who saw their current face (Hershfield and colleagues). The money was not real, there was no letter, and the authors called their results preliminary.
• A five-minute letter and honesty. In a 2013 study, online participants wrote to themselves either 20 years or three months ahead. Then they answered questions about made-up situations, such as buying a laptop that might be stolen. The 20-year group said they were less likely to make dishonest choices (Kellogg Insight summary). These were stated choices, not real behaviour.
• A letter and exercise. In a 2018 study, about 500 undergraduates wrote to themselves either 20 years or three months ahead, then kept a short exercise diary. The 20-year group reported a little more exercise, roughly 13 minutes a day against 9 (Rutchick and colleagues). Both groups wrote a letter, so this tests how far ahead you write, not letter against no letter. The participants were students, and exercise was self-reported over two to ten days.
• Letters and mood. In a 2021 online study of 738 adults in Japan during the pandemic, writing a letter to or from the future self lifted mood straight afterwards, compared with a control task (Chishima, Liu and Wilson). It measured feelings at the time, not later behaviour.

A warning sign: a 2020 doctoral thesis at the University of Bonn reports repeating the 2013 letter task and not finding the original effect (thesis record). It has not been peer reviewed, and we could read only its abstract. Treat bold claims with care.

A fair reading: writing to your future self can make that person feel a little closer, and the reply seems to matter. Nothing shows a letter changes your habits on its own. That is why the plan ends in an act you choose and a record of what happened.

Where this fits with other tools

If you would rather start from qualities you admire, use the identity-to-action map. For repeating small acts, read about identity-based habits. For a longer guided writing programme, see our Self Authoring review.

Laurels is being built around the same step from aim to action. It is planned to use what you want to grow into and where you are starting to suggest a real-world challenge that fits you, with the choice left to you. It is not open yet.