Imagining A Better Future

Pause for a moment and imagine your life one month from now.

Do you imagine a clear and detailed picture of your future?

Does your vision of your future motivate you?

What about when you imagine your future one year, 10 years or 20 years from now?

If you don’t have a vision for your future, or if it lacks detail, is unclear and doesn’t motivate you, then you may be doing yourself a disservice.

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road can take you there.”

Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.

The path your life takes between now and the next month, year, 10 years or 20 years is strongly influenced by the vision you have for it. A clear, detailed and compelling vision gives you a greater chance of turning it into a reality. It gives you direction and can fortify you against the buffeting that life’s ups and downs can sometimes cause.

Letter From The Future

Coaches understand the importance of having a vision and an activity they use to help people develop one is called the Letter from the Future.

Before you read on, I encourage you to identify your Character Strengths, clarify your Top Five Values, complete the Coaching Needs Checklist and fill in The Wheel of Life, if you haven’t done so already. Those four activities will give you more to draw upon as you develop your Letter From The Future.

Steps For Creating Your Letter From The Future

1. Choose a date that is some months or even years in the future that means something to you, such as an anniversary or a birthday.
2. Imagine that your life between now and the date you have chosen has turned out exactly the way you want it to be.
3. With that in mind, assume the role of your future self and answer these questions:
4. What does your life look like?
5. How do you feel?
6. What have you done and what do you do that brings your Top Five Values to life and aligns with your Character Strengths?
7. Who do you spend your time with?
8. How did you get from where you were (are presently) to where you are (will be in the future)?
9. How did you overcome obstacles?
10. Now use this information to write a letter (as your future self) to your past self (current self) that shares all the developments in your life in as much detail as possible.

Let your imagination run free as you create your Letter from the Future. You can use the template above to help you write your letter. The space provided in the template is only a guide. Feel free to write as much or as little as you feel comfortable.

After you write your Letter From The Future, post a comment here or on Advantage Education’s Facebook page to share your work.

Any likes and shares are also appreciated as they help to spread this post to a wider audience.

Now go and have a great life.