I freakin love this!! My current blog grew out of a journalling practice I started of asking my 60-year-old self for advice (this was, of course, before I turned 60 :-). It turned out my future self had answers to all kinds of life's little questions... and some not-so-little ones.
On my list of A-worthy accomplishments one year from now:
*You actually followed through and created enough income from your writing and membership site to be able to leave your job BEFORE your 66th birthday! You go, girl!
*You paid off all of your non-mortgage debt! That is jaw-dropping in itself, but the fact that you really persisted when it came to becoming better educated about money and set up systems to automate your way out of debt is probably worthy of an A+. You are now officially a financially-savvy person. Bet you never thought you'd say THAT about yourself, right?
*You came through the toughest year of your life as a Mom. Staying upbeat and supportive of Sarah as she progressed through her chemo treatments and surgeries was so hard - so many days you just wanted to cry and go to bed and hope it would all be better when you woke up. But girl, you're a fighter - both you and Sarah came through this stronger because of the woman you became during the process.
Did this practice this morning as part of my daily journal practice and it helped reinforce the steps I’m currently taking as well as help me see areas I’d like to define and solidify. Mostly I came to see that I’m on the right track and I’m excited for the upcoming year. (Also, good to see that my future self is quite wise. ;))
Hopefully *something* is worth fighting for. :) If you don't think in terms of goals, how do you want to live? How do you want to 'be'? What can you do now to be proud of yourself in the future?
I can't say that I do. I am a very old 47 now and have nothing and no one to try and do this for, even for myself. I am merely doing what I can do to survive (which might be its own flavor of problem because it is), an artifact of an abused man.
Maybe reading the Stoics would agree with you and give you the motto(s) you seek to avoid? 47 is soooo young! I’m 60 n feel 17. Every day is a new opportunity to reinvent your life. It’s a big world n everyone unique. There’s something out there for you—meditation? Maybe journal to discover what’s important to you. Infinite blessings to you on your journey.
Congratulations, Danah! You earned an A this past year for everything you have done. I am so proud of you!
First, you have found a way to rest without guilt. Although you always theoretically agreed that rest was important for success, you didn’t believe that was true for yourself. Instead, you pushed yourself too hard accomplishing the things that the world said were important, while neglecting the things that were important to you. This past year you have spent more time cooking healthy meals, filled with vegetables that you know are nourishing your body and fueling you. You have taken a nap when you needed to instead of getting an afternoon shot of caffeine. You have read or watched TV for hours, without guilt that you weren’t being productive enough. You have learned from this. You have learned what you enjoy, what captures your interest, and what tastes good to you! You have learned things about yourself that have surprised you. Well done!
Over the past year you have also learned the art of gentle exercise. You have built stronger muscles. You no longer worry about being the wimpy one, but you know you can carry a heavy bag or box up the stairs. You are stretching. You challenge your body, but you also let it rest. You have found exercise that brings you joy instead of bringing you dread. It is enough. You don’t have to be the strongest or the fastest. You simply take care of your body in a way that works for you.
Finally, and most importantly, you have challenged yourself creatively. A year ago, you had so many doubts about your ability to write what was in your heart. You had thoughts that felt so important to you, but you worried that others would not find them interesting. But you took that chance, and you wrote. You wrote about your experiences, and lo and behold, there was a small group who felt the same as you. They were grateful to learn from someone else’s experience. You helped them make their lives better.
You took an even bigger chance and you wrote a creative story. You wrote the novel that you’ve been wanting to read about a smart and independent woman making her way in the world. Writing this novel was hard. It took time, attention and creativity that made your head hurt. You had to study. You had to workshop. You got feedback that sometimes stung, but you listened and learned and improved. And now you have accomplished this thing that you have always dreamt of doing, you have written a novel. It may go nowhere, but that will never take away the fact that you did it.
Congratulations on this great year! You got to this point one day at a time. One decision at a time. You rested when you needed to, and you pushed yourself when you needed to. Job well done.
I did something like this earlier this year (sans the grade and the letter format). I looked through the past 10 years of journals and realized that much of what I was looking for had come to pass in some way. Doing the letter exercise now was somewhat odd. I know that I am moving back to the US this summer, but I know not where or what job I'll have or where my kid is going to go to school or if we can find a school that can help him with his needs or if I'll find a cadre of musicians and gigs like the ones I have now. So on one hand, it was easy to say "hey, here are the things you've accomplished," but harder to believe it will all swimmingly come to pass by March 2025. I feel like I have control over the looking, but not the finding.
I recently wrote a letter to a therapist I hadn't seen for 6 months. I wanted to give her a positive overview of what I'd been doing. I was absolutely surprised at all the good things I'd been doing for myself during that time. I benefited so much just from writing that letter.
This is just brilliant! I have a passion for self-awareness, specifically self-aware leadership - and this feels like an excellent self-awareness exercise!!
This is a great exercise. Simple, helped me get clarity on my goal and the steps that I need to do to accomplish it. I added it to my calendar on March 30, 2025. Thanks Chris for this!
I freakin love this!! My current blog grew out of a journalling practice I started of asking my 60-year-old self for advice (this was, of course, before I turned 60 :-). It turned out my future self had answers to all kinds of life's little questions... and some not-so-little ones.
On my list of A-worthy accomplishments one year from now:
*You actually followed through and created enough income from your writing and membership site to be able to leave your job BEFORE your 66th birthday! You go, girl!
*You paid off all of your non-mortgage debt! That is jaw-dropping in itself, but the fact that you really persisted when it came to becoming better educated about money and set up systems to automate your way out of debt is probably worthy of an A+. You are now officially a financially-savvy person. Bet you never thought you'd say THAT about yourself, right?
*You came through the toughest year of your life as a Mom. Staying upbeat and supportive of Sarah as she progressed through her chemo treatments and surgeries was so hard - so many days you just wanted to cry and go to bed and hope it would all be better when you woke up. But girl, you're a fighter - both you and Sarah came through this stronger because of the woman you became during the process.
No hat tip to the Zanders for this exercise?
Sources: https://www.google.com/search?q=%C2%A0giving+an+a
I have always wondered about that guy. I knew someone who played under his baton and did not have a positive assessment of the experience.
This is an awesome idea for a practice, Chris. Thanks so much for sharing. Going to give this a go!
Did this practice this morning as part of my daily journal practice and it helped reinforce the steps I’m currently taking as well as help me see areas I’d like to define and solidify. Mostly I came to see that I’m on the right track and I’m excited for the upcoming year. (Also, good to see that my future self is quite wise. ;))
Thanks. Very interesting. Worth saving and re reading
This is hard when you have a motto of no goals forever and ever amen. You can't project success if there is no success to try to shoot for.
Still, it is a good exercise to shock the system and see if anything is worth fighting for.
Hopefully *something* is worth fighting for. :) If you don't think in terms of goals, how do you want to live? How do you want to 'be'? What can you do now to be proud of yourself in the future?
I can't say that I do. I am a very old 47 now and have nothing and no one to try and do this for, even for myself. I am merely doing what I can do to survive (which might be its own flavor of problem because it is), an artifact of an abused man.
Maybe reading the Stoics would agree with you and give you the motto(s) you seek to avoid? 47 is soooo young! I’m 60 n feel 17. Every day is a new opportunity to reinvent your life. It’s a big world n everyone unique. There’s something out there for you—meditation? Maybe journal to discover what’s important to you. Infinite blessings to you on your journey.
Congratulations, Danah! You earned an A this past year for everything you have done. I am so proud of you!
First, you have found a way to rest without guilt. Although you always theoretically agreed that rest was important for success, you didn’t believe that was true for yourself. Instead, you pushed yourself too hard accomplishing the things that the world said were important, while neglecting the things that were important to you. This past year you have spent more time cooking healthy meals, filled with vegetables that you know are nourishing your body and fueling you. You have taken a nap when you needed to instead of getting an afternoon shot of caffeine. You have read or watched TV for hours, without guilt that you weren’t being productive enough. You have learned from this. You have learned what you enjoy, what captures your interest, and what tastes good to you! You have learned things about yourself that have surprised you. Well done!
Over the past year you have also learned the art of gentle exercise. You have built stronger muscles. You no longer worry about being the wimpy one, but you know you can carry a heavy bag or box up the stairs. You are stretching. You challenge your body, but you also let it rest. You have found exercise that brings you joy instead of bringing you dread. It is enough. You don’t have to be the strongest or the fastest. You simply take care of your body in a way that works for you.
Finally, and most importantly, you have challenged yourself creatively. A year ago, you had so many doubts about your ability to write what was in your heart. You had thoughts that felt so important to you, but you worried that others would not find them interesting. But you took that chance, and you wrote. You wrote about your experiences, and lo and behold, there was a small group who felt the same as you. They were grateful to learn from someone else’s experience. You helped them make their lives better.
You took an even bigger chance and you wrote a creative story. You wrote the novel that you’ve been wanting to read about a smart and independent woman making her way in the world. Writing this novel was hard. It took time, attention and creativity that made your head hurt. You had to study. You had to workshop. You got feedback that sometimes stung, but you listened and learned and improved. And now you have accomplished this thing that you have always dreamt of doing, you have written a novel. It may go nowhere, but that will never take away the fact that you did it.
Congratulations on this great year! You got to this point one day at a time. One decision at a time. You rested when you needed to, and you pushed yourself when you needed to. Job well done.
I did something like this earlier this year (sans the grade and the letter format). I looked through the past 10 years of journals and realized that much of what I was looking for had come to pass in some way. Doing the letter exercise now was somewhat odd. I know that I am moving back to the US this summer, but I know not where or what job I'll have or where my kid is going to go to school or if we can find a school that can help him with his needs or if I'll find a cadre of musicians and gigs like the ones I have now. So on one hand, it was easy to say "hey, here are the things you've accomplished," but harder to believe it will all swimmingly come to pass by March 2025. I feel like I have control over the looking, but not the finding.
I recently wrote a letter to a therapist I hadn't seen for 6 months. I wanted to give her a positive overview of what I'd been doing. I was absolutely surprised at all the good things I'd been doing for myself during that time. I benefited so much just from writing that letter.
Thanks Chris very awesome thing to do !!!!!!
This is just brilliant! I have a passion for self-awareness, specifically self-aware leadership - and this feels like an excellent self-awareness exercise!!
This is a great exercise. Simple, helped me get clarity on my goal and the steps that I need to do to accomplish it. I added it to my calendar on March 30, 2025. Thanks Chris for this!