ACTIVITY: Grading Your Future Self

One year from now, you get an "A" for the person you've become. How did you earn it? 📋

Imagine it's one year in the future, and you've awarded yourself an "A" grade for everything you've done from now until then.

In this activity, I invite you to look back on your life as you imagine it one year from now and give yourself a grade. It’s more challenging than it might seem, because there’s a twist. 

In the game show Jeopardy!, contestants are given the answers but need to discover the questions. In this activity, the grading is the easy part. You automatically get an A.¹

Nice job! The hard part is deciding what you did to deserve it. 

How It Works

Write a short letter explaining to yourself why you got an A for all the work you did over the past year. This can include accomplishments, but it's even more important to focus on the person you became during this year. 

I like using a year as the timeframe because it's not too short or too long. It gives you a chance to stretch out without a timeline of "by the time I die," which feels uncertain and scary.

Below you’ll find a sample letter, a few guidelines, and some example “actions” that other people selected when doing this activity with me in a practice run.

Sample Letter

Dear self,

It's one year later. You did a great job moving into the next stage of your life and work.

You've been trying to do this for a long time, only to experience setbacks or marginal improvement, but this year you really pushed through! It wasn't perfect, but it was definitely much better.

You did this by:

—> (action 1)

—> (action 2)

—> (action 3)

For these efforts, you deserve more than a passing grade. You deserve an A!

A Few Guidelines

First, everything must be written in the past tense. Phrases such as “I hope,” I intend,” or “I will” must not appear.

Second, you can only grade yourself on things within your control. You can't say "Self, you won the lottery!" or "Great news, the person who always made your life difficult finally changed."

Finally, you want to aim for a balance between difficult and achievable. Challenge yourself and be compassionate towards yourself.

Practice Run Examples

• Completing your 200 hours of yoga teacher training

• Writing the first draft of your book

• Sticking with an exercise habit most days throughout the year

• Initiating hard conversations with someone important

• Successfully transitioning from the job you no longer find rewarding

• Traveling to five new countries on your own

• Beginning a savings and investment plan for the first time

• Stepping out of your comfort zone by ______

These are just examples, of course. It’s your own evaluation, so try it out for yourself. 💚

See Also

ACTIVITY: Prune Your Calendar

ACTIVITY: The Reverse Bucket List

1. Side note: I love how Jeopardy! is spelled with an exclamation point. Build enthusiasm right into your title!

Also: one of my lifelong achievements was having a book of mine used as a clue in the show. I had no idea this was happening in advance—I just started getting emails from people who’d seen it live. If you’re logged into Instagram on desktop, you can see the video here. (On mobile, you might have to click on “Highlights.”)