The power of future-self journaling
In March of 2020 I found myself without a job and with an abundance of time on my hands. I found myself using all this newfound time (something I hadn’t experienced in quite some time) to learn, brainstorm, and reflect.
Without really realizing what it was I was doing, I dove head-first into personal development. I reflected on the person, or version of myself, I was and what I wanted to change. I remember writing out a list of attributes I decided I was going to work on having from that day forward. I took a picture of that list so I could look at it every day to remind myself of who I wanted to be (and still have that picture somewhere in my phone lol).
Fast forward a few weeks into going into a major personal development phase and my boyfriend, whom at the time I thought was my (lifelong) person, and I broke up. Looking back, it’s interesting to see how I essentially was choosing to level myself up, and spent my time talking about and taking action towards that leveling up, and certain things (like the bf) fell away. Coincidence? Probably not.
But of course, I didn’t see it that way at the time. I was absolutely heartbroken. A strange thing occurred when the breakup happened, it was like a veil was lifted and I could see all of the ways I showed up as a disempowered or “less ideal” version of myself, as well as how my insecurities negatively impacted the relationship. The guilt and shame of knowing I didn’t show up as the best version of myself in that relationship ate me alive.
And my phone did what phones do best these days - listen to your conversations and proceed to provide you with ads based on what it heard you talk about.
So OF COURSE. I get an ad for codependency. Lol. I’m not sure I was even fully aware of what codependency was at the time but for one reason or another the ad got me. It led me to this coach’s (Victoria Albina) podcast and I ate. That. Stuff. Up. Like it was my job. The information I came across through her podcast and others’ books, blogs, and social media accounts changed my life. I realize that’s a bold statement, but it’s true.
As I was binging all of this information and soaking it all up like a sponge, one of the podcast episodes introduced me to future-self journaling, and I have loved it ever since coming across it. Since that first exposure, I have (inadvertently) come across various different versions of future-self journaling.
Future self journaling is a powerful way to get clarity on the version of ourselves we desire to become, to help us embody that new version of ourselves, to help us take action in alignment with the new version of ourselves, and to ultimately become that new version of ourselves.
Here are three different ways I use future-self journaling for both myself and my clients based on what it’s being used for. I’m a big fan of hearing an idea and then taking it and using it in a way that resonates most with you, so feel free to do these differently than I specifically outline here.
Method 1:
Set your timer for 10-15 minutes and journal “as if” you were the version of yourself you desire to be. Let yourself feel like you are the ideal future version of yourself writing about your day and how you feel in your journal.
Write out all of your dreams, desires, and who you want to be in the present tense. Write “as if.” What happened in your day? What are you grateful for? How do you feel? How are you thinking?
You can use this to remind yourself of certain actions you want to start taking and to help you take on this new persona. Behaving like and feeling like the ideal future version of yourself is so helpful in you actually becoming that version of yourself.
Do this every day either writing in a journal or speaking out loud. I believe saying it out loud is more powerful, but it’s up to you!
Method 2:
Get really specific on the traits and behaviors of your ideal future self. What do you do? What traits do you have? How do you show up in the world? How do you feel? What are your hobbies? What are your habits? What mindsets do you have? Write these out in the present tense.
Use this to help you get clear on who you are becoming and how you are choosing to work on showing up moving forward. This can be anything from “I am kind and patient” to “I have healthy habits and enjoy making healthier eating choices” to “I am confident AF and LOVE who I am.”
Really think about the version of you that you’re desiring to step into. Feel free to write out this list as long as you can, writing out anything that comes to mind. Then, pick 1-5 of these that are the most important to you right now and use these moving forward until it’s who you are and it’s time to choose new ones. Think about what actions can help you with embodying these new qualities and ways of showing up. You can add those actions to your journaling or just know it’s what you’re going to focus on doing as you work on taking on these new qualities.
Write out or verbalize these every day to serve as a reminder to embody the new you and help you take these on at an identity level - which is so impactful for truly changing how we show up.
Method 3:
If you have something specific you’re working on accomplishing or changing, such as a project you’re working on, having a specific fitness and nutrition goal, becoming more organized, becoming less emotionally reactive, etc, we can make future self journaling more specific to really hone in on this.
Write out your specific goal, then write out what you need to do to accomplish this goal.
What specific actions do you have to take? How do you need to think about things? What habits or routines would be helpful? What personal qualities would be helpful to have? What do you need to do and who do you need to be? Write this out for clarity.
Then, you can create affirmations or mantras from your answers to the questions above to write or say every day.
With this clarity, create specific goals and a concrete action plan to help you achieve what you're setting out to.
Have the vision of the version of you that you’re becoming in your head and find a way to think about it daily, or even more than once a day, to help start to shift neural pathways and remind yourself of how you want to show up.
Our brains want to stick to what it knows as much as possible, so we have to put in the effort to remind ourselves to do things differently than we normally do. Repetition is necessary to shift the neural pathways in our brains, so the more we can get ourselves to think about and act like our ideal future self, the more successful we will be in shifting our thoughts and behaviors in a more permanent way.
As you continue to keep your ideal future self top of mind, ask yourself throughout the day: what would my future self do in this scenario?
If this intrigues you and you think it would be super beneficial for you to do (hint, hint, it will be!), but you’re struggling to create a clear vision of what your ideal future self looks like or what actions, behaviors, or routines would help you get there, schedule a future self mapping session with me. In this session I’ll help you gain clarity on what you desire, the characteristics and actions of the version of yourself you wish to become, and the specific actions you can take daily to help you step into this new version of you. Head here to schedule a session.