Subtitle: love who you have become a year from now
Why take the time to write a letter to your future? There are many good reasons to do this, and agents who have done it have reported amazement when they see their letter in a year and realize that they have set in motion a path to their future.
The letter to the future is a way to create a marker in time where you will shine and have developed into the person that you desire to be. You may be asking “how” you can possibly know what will have happened a year from now. Well the good news is, you don’t have to know. This is a dreaming exercise, similar to the one we do at the Disney workshop at our Your Coaching Matters events. You don’t need to know how, or all the things that could be pitfalls along the way…you only know that you have a desire that you would deeply love to fulfill.
The letter creates a movie that lives in your unconscious mind- and the more you practice the part you want to play, the more you will begin to simply believe.
Here are some steps you get you started!
- Write the letter in first person, second person or third person.
1st person would begin something like: As I stand here December 2016
2nd person would begin something like: Donna, you did so well last year at growing
3rd person would begin something like: She became a hero to herself in 2016.
(Most people who do this exercise seem to prefer 2nd person)
* Fun Exercise: Try writing in all three voices and see how it changes.Look back or look forward, your choice. You may prefer to write the letter as if you are looking forward at coming attractions or have traveled into the future and are looking back. “Susan wants you to know that in Dec 2016, she have exercised over 200 times and tracked it.
“As Susan looks back she remembers the day in December 2015 when she started consistently using numbers tracker and now a year later, she is celebrating with her staff at their favorite restaurant.”
2. In NLP ( Neuro-Linguistic Programming) we look at timelines as a powerful way to create an exciting future as well as overcome limitations from the past. You can physically use this exercise to to take a tour of your timeline and help solidify your letter. Take several pieces of paper and put them on the floor as if you were rolling out a magic carpet. Write Dec 2016 on one of the pieces of paper. Depending on whether you are looking forward or looking back from December 2016, the piece of dated paper will be closest to you or the last piece of paper. Step onto the 1st piece of paper and shut your eyes and allow yourself to see your timeline as a river. You are floating above it and looking down on the place you will be a year from now. What do you see?
3. Get out your Standards of Integrity. Here is your opportunity to be all of the qualities of being that are near and dear to your heart. Look at your list. If you were being those qualities, what would you be doing? Who would you be with? Where would you go?
4. Review your Life Intentions. What was an important goal to you last year may have shifted. Discern 2 or 3 of your top Life Intentions or have your coach guide you. If one of your top Life Intentions for instance is to be Financially Successful, dream about what that could look like a year from now. Who would you be with, what would you be doing, where would you go?
5. Who are the most important people in your life? Name 4 or 5 people, family members, mentors, friends, coaches and put them in your movie. Imagine them supporting you and cheering you on.
6. What are you excited about? What has excited you in the past? Be wildly ambitious, and take a no holds barred approach to who you would want to be.
7. Make it an action movie. a romance or a comedy. The letter will tell a lot about you. Whatever theme you choose, make sure there is plenty of action to keep the audience ( you) interested.
8. Give yourself some loving. If you were starring in a movie, you would build up the main character. Acknowledge yourself for you will will be in the next 12 months. Be proud and appreciate. And don’t forget to be grateful for a life well live.
9. What would you like to let go of or release? This is a process that Donna Stott will go over in more depth at the end of the year call.
10. Sign your letter and date it. Share it with your coach and celebrate together. Email it to yourself for future delivery at futureme.org. If you would like to have your letter stored and mailed to you a year from now, you can use a service called dearfutureme.org