What if the person you’re becoming could influence the choices you make today?
Most of us spend a tremendous amount of time thinking about the present. We think about what needs to get done today, what is stressing us out, what decision we need to make, or what isn't going the way we hoped.
But there is another version of ourselves worth paying attention to: our future self.
The person you imagine becoming may have different priorities, greater clarity, new experiences, stronger boundaries, different relationships, or goals that have already been achieved.
Psychologists have been studying our relationship with this future version of ourselves for years. The research suggests that the degree to which we feel connected to our future self—known as future-self continuity—can be associated with the way we make decisions, approach long-term goals, and engage in certain behaviors. (PubMed)
That raises an intriguing question:
What could change if you intentionally spent more time connecting with the person you're becoming?
What Is Future-Self Continuity?
Future-self continuity describes the subjective feeling that the person you will become is connected to the person you are today.
It's not about predicting the future.
It's about whether your future self feels like you—or like a completely different person you'll eventually become.
Researcher Hal Hershfield's work on future-self continuity helped establish this concept in psychology. His research review found that when people perceive their future selves as more similar, vivid, realistic, and positive, they may be more willing to make choices in the present that benefit them later. (PubMed)
Think about the difference between:
“Someday I'll be that person.”
and:
“That person is me. I'm becoming her now.”
That psychological distinction may matter.
1. Connecting With Your Future Self Can Help You Think Beyond the Present Moment
One of the biggest challenges of pursuing long-term goals is that the benefits are often delayed.
The decision you make today may not pay off for months or years.
Saving money today benefits your future self.
Taking care of your health today benefits your future self.
Building a business today may benefit your future self.
Setting boundaries today may create a different life later.
When the future feels distant and disconnected, immediate rewards can be much more tempting.
Research on future-self continuity has explored precisely this tension. Studies have found relationships between stronger future-self continuity and greater consideration of future outcomes in decision-making. (PubMed)
This doesn't mean that simply imagining your future guarantees better decisions.
Rather, the research suggests that how connected you feel to your future self may influence how much weight you give to future consequences.
2. It May Help You Make Decisions With Your Long-Term Goals in Mind
Imagine you're standing at a crossroads.
You could make the choice that feels easiest right now—or the choice that is more aligned with the life you ultimately want.
Connecting with your future self gives you another perspective to consider.
You might ask:
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What would the person I want to become choose?
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What will matter to me a year from now?
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Will this decision move me toward or away from the life I envision?
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What am I doing today that my future self will thank me for?
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What am I tolerating today that my future self may wish I had changed?
These questions don't tell you what decision to make.
Instead, they encourage you to consider the longer-term version of the decision.
A 2011 review of future-self research concluded that perceptions of the future self can affect intertemporal choices—decisions involving costs and rewards that occur at different points in time. (PubMed)
3. Connecting With Your Future Self May Support Healthier Behaviors
One particularly interesting study looked specifically at future-self continuity and health.
In one experiment, participants were asked to write a letter to themselves either three months or 20 years into the future.
According to the researchers, participants whose connection with their distant future self was strengthened through the writing exercise exercised more in the days that followed. (PubMed)
That finding is interesting because it suggests that an exercise involving writing and imagining the future self can potentially influence behavior in the present.
Other research has found associations between future-self continuity and healthy behaviors under particular circumstances. For example, a 2024 study involving adults experiencing body dissatisfaction and negative affect found that greater engagement in healthy behaviors was associated with stronger future-self continuity in that population. (PubMed)
These findings don't mean that connecting with your future self is a treatment for health problems or that everyone will experience the same results.
But they add to a growing body of research examining whether strengthening our psychological connection to the future can influence present-day behavior.
4. Your Future Self Can Give You a Different Perspective on Your Current Problems
When you're in the middle of a difficult situation, it can be difficult to see beyond it.
A career decision can feel overwhelming.
A relationship can feel confusing.
A personal setback can feel permanent.
A goal can feel impossibly far away.
Imagining yourself after you've had time to learn, grow, experience, and change can create psychological distance from the immediate situation.
You can ask:
“If I were looking back on this moment five years from now, what might I wish I had understood?”
That doesn't mean your imagined future self knows what will happen.
It means you're temporarily stepping outside your current perspective.
And sometimes, that's enough to help you see a familiar problem differently.
5. Connecting With Your Future Self Can Help You Get Clearer About What You Actually Want
There's a difference between having a goal and understanding why you want the goal.
Maybe you want a successful business.
But perhaps what you really want is freedom.
Maybe you want financial security.
But perhaps what you really want is the ability to choose how you spend your time.
Maybe you want to change your career.
But perhaps what you really want is meaningful work.
Future-self reflection gives you an opportunity to explore the deeper motivations behind your goals.
Instead of asking only:
“What do I want to accomplish?”
you can ask:
“Who do I want to become?”
That second question can lead somewhere much more personal.
6. Writing Can Make Your Future Self Feel More Real
One way to strengthen your relationship with your future self is through writing.
Writing forces vague thoughts to become words.
Instead of simply thinking, “I want my life to be different someday,” you can describe what that future looks and feels like.
What does your future self believe?
What did she learn?
What did she stop worrying about?
What did she finally give herself permission to do?
What did she refuse to give up on?
What would she want you to know right now?
Research continues to explore writing and imagination-based exercises designed to strengthen future-self continuity.
A 2026 randomized study involving 1,624 participants across four preregistered experiments found that a writing-based “day preconstruction” exercise reliably increased future-self continuity. One study also found an increase in valued living over one week, although the researchers found no effect on real monetary delay discounting. (PubMed)
In other words, the research is encouraging—but nuanced.
Connecting with your future self isn't a magic formula. It's a psychological practice that researchers are continuing to investigate.
What If Your Future Self Could Write Back?
Most future-self exercises ask you to write to your future self.
But what if you turned the exercise around?
What if you received a letter from your future self?
That's the idea behind Future You Letters.
Future You Letters is a personalized letter-writing service designed around the idea of creating a tangible connection with the person you're becoming.
Instead of receiving a generic motivational letter, you first answer questions about your own life.
Your values.
Your beliefs.
Your goals.
Your desires.
Your challenges.
Your vision for the future.
Your hopes and dreams.
Those answers become the foundation for your personalized letter.
The letter is then written from the perspective of your future self and mailed directly to your home address.
It's not a prediction of your future.
It's a personalized reflection of the future you're working toward.
Your Future You Letter Is Created Specifically For You
The reason personalization matters is simple:
Your future is not the same as anyone else's.
A generic inspirational quote can't know what you're struggling with.
It doesn't know what you're working toward.
It doesn't know what you've been afraid to do.
It doesn't know what matters most to you.
A Personalized Future You Letter begins with your answers.
With a Personalized Future You Letter, you share the information that helps create a picture of the person you're becoming.
Your letter is then written around that personal vision and delivered as a physical letter to your mailbox.
There's something intentionally different about receiving it this way.
You aren't opening another email.
You aren't scrolling past another social media post.
You're holding an envelope addressed to you.
You open it.
You read it.
And you can keep it.
Why Put Your Future Self on Paper?
Our phones are filled with reminders, notifications, messages, photos, and information.
A physical letter creates a different kind of experience.
It's slower.
It's tangible.
And because you can physically keep it, it can become something you return to when you need to reconnect with the person you're working toward becoming.
The purpose isn't to convince yourself that your future is guaranteed.
It's to create a moment of reflection around a powerful question:
“What would the person I'm becoming want me to remember right now?”
Your Future Self Isn't Someone You Become Overnight
It's easy to imagine your future self as a completely different person.
Someone more confident.
More successful.
Healthier.
Happier.
More financially secure.
More fulfilled.
But becoming that person doesn't happen all at once.
It's built through countless small decisions.
The conversations you have.
The risks you take.
The boundaries you establish.
The habits you create.
The goals you continue pursuing after the excitement wears off.
The moments when you choose what matters to you over what is simply easiest.
Your future self is being shaped by your present self.
And that's why connecting with that future version of yourself can be so meaningful.
A Simple Exercise: Ask Your Future Self These Questions
You don't need to order anything to begin exploring your future self.
Take a few minutes and write down the answers to these questions:
1. What does the life I genuinely want look like?
2. What am I working toward right now?
3. What am I afraid to do?
4. What would my future self tell me not to give up on?
5. What would she tell me to stop worrying about?
6. What values do I want my future life to reflect?
7. What decision am I facing right now—and what would the person I'm becoming want me to consider?
Don't worry about writing the “right” answers.
The goal is to create a conversation with yourself that you might not otherwise have.
The Conversation With Your Future Self Can Begin Today
The research around future-self continuity doesn't suggest that imagining your future guarantees success.
What it does suggest is that our psychological relationship with our future selves is worth paying attention to.
Research has connected future-self continuity with decision-making, motivation, intentions, behavior, and aspects of psychological and physical health. (PubMed)
And emerging research continues to explore whether exercises designed to make the future self more vivid and psychologically connected can influence how people live in the present. (PubMed)
Maybe the most important question isn't:
“What will my future look like?”
Maybe it's:
“Who am I becoming—and what can I do today to move toward her?”
That's the question behind Future You Letters.
And if you'd like to experience that idea in a tangible way, you can get your own Personalized Future You Letter—a letter created around your values, beliefs, goals, desires, challenges, and vision for the person you're becoming, then mailed directly to your home.
Because sometimes, the perspective you need most isn't from someone else.
It's from the person you're becoming. 💌
Research Sources
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Hershfield, H. E. (2011). Future self-continuity: How conceptions of the future self transform intertemporal choice. (PubMed)
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Rutchick et al. (2018). Future self-continuity is associated with improved health and increases exercise behavior. (PubMed)
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Sokol & Goodman / Self-Continuity review literature. (PubMed)
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Kwan, Bentley & Serper (2024). Body dissatisfaction, negative affect, and engagement in healthy behaviors: The conditional effect of future-self continuity. (PubMed)
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Blom, Wästlund & Kristensson (2026). The day preconstruction method: A novel method to strengthen future self-continuity. (PubMed)