Write a letter from your future
December is here which is often a busy time - whether we’re enjoying the festivities and catching up with loved ones or we have a product-based business that is popular this time of year (fingers crossed!). At some point, however, your thoughts will drift to January and the start of a new year. I highly recommend taking some time out to do the following exercise at some point in December or by the second week in January 2024. This is so you can still have a good memory of your 2023 and are in a contemplative mood!
When you can, get out your journal, grab the drink of your choice and spend some time answering these questions for yourself.
YOUR MAGIC 2024 QUESTIONS
Thinking about your business and yourself personally:
What have been my highlights of 2023 - what has gone well and why?
With this in mind, what can I do more of in 2024?
What could have gone better?
How can I learn from this?
If I could achieve one thing for my business in 2024, what would it be?
If I could achieve one thing for myself in 2024, what would it be?
MY ANSWERS
In the spirit of integrity and never suggesting you do something that I don’t do myself, I’ve answered these questions in my journal. I now have a lovely warm glowy feeling at reflecting on what I’ve achieved in 2023 which is rather lovely.
Interestingly, what I have learnt about things that could have gone better is a theme of continuing to ask for help when I need it. I know that when I finally do that (always reluctant!) I’ve found that my progress supercharges and they feature highly on my list of achievements. For example, this year I have worked with a video editor to professionally edit my course videos, I’ve worked with an app developer to get my program in the app store and I’ve worked with Clue Content to film my social media content for 2024. As well as regularly working with two life coaches one to one to work on myself and my business.
I will admit that I do have five things I would like to achieve in 2024! The one with the most energy for me is writing and publishing a book. And I will take my own advice and look at working with a book coach to get there faster.
2. WRITE A LETTER FROM YOUR FUTURE
Once you’ve answered the magic questions I have a new challenge for you.
WRITE A LETTER TO YOURSELF AS THOUGH FROM 1 YEAR FROM TODAY.
I am writing this blog post on 8th December so I have put the date 8th December 2024 at the top of my letter and written
‘Dear Anna.
2024 has been such an amazing year for us….’
I have then written a couple of pages about everything I hope to achieve in the coming year as though they have already happened. Make sure to include your emotions and gratitude in the letter as this will help bring it to life.
Some logistics
I have chosen to write mine in my journal and have put a note in my calendar for 8th December 2024 to prompt myself to find it. Another great option is to use https://www.futureme.org/ where you can write yourself an email and the date you want it to be sent and you will receive it then. This is a free service. You could also write and address it in a letter and ask a trusted friend to send it to you on the right date.
BUT WHY WRITE A LETTER?
All humans have a creative imagination. We can think of places we’ve never been to and we can imagine the future. We can think of things that are not right in front of us. Humans are unique in our ability to do this. And, importantly, the human brain assimilates everything whether it has happened yet or not.
Here are a couple of examples of when this will have happened to you.
Have you ever been at an event and then heard people talking about it later? And later realised that you can’t remember what is your memory of that event and what people have told you? It’s because our mind stores the information in one place as though it were one thing and it can be hard to pull apart our true memory from the hearsay.
I expect you have also had the experience of being in a dark room, hearing a noise and feeling a sense of fear. And when you turned on the lights you found that there was nothing to be afraid of. Your body has still reacted to the fear even though it was all in your mind.
This is how manifestation works. We imagine ourselves already having the thing we want and how that will feel. By writing the letter from your future self you are taking the time to put that into words so ensure you include what you would like to achieve in the next year, what you would like to have and how you would like to feel. And you need to write it in the past tense as though it has already happened.
And if you wince a bit at the word manifestation, you can change it to clarity. When we are clear about what we want we can work towards it. If our wishes are not defined it’s hard for us to prioritise what is going to get us where we want to go.