Some weeks you're so busy keeping everything running that you forget what it's all for. The side project, the course, the plan to make more room for what matters: they're still there, but they've gone a little blurry. You're moving, but you're not sure toward what.
A short writing practice can help bring the picture back into focus.
What the research found
In 2001, psychologist Laura King published a study in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin in which university students wrote for 20 minutes a day, four days in a row. Some wrote about their best possible self: imagining a future in which everything had gone as well as it reasonably could, and they had reached the goals that mattered to them.
Writing about their best possible self was linked with better mood and greater life satisfaction, and with fewer illness-related visits to the campus health center. It was a small study of 81 students.
Since then, the exercise has been tested many times in different forms. A later systematic review and meta-analysis found that, compared with control activities, the best possible self exercise gave a small-to-moderate boost to optimism and positive mood. Results vary, but the practice has held up well enough to be widely used.
Before you can make room for the life you want, it helps to see it clearly.
Why it belongs in a spiritual practice
Many traditions make space for reflection on purpose: who you are becoming and what your life is for. The best possible self exercise is a modern version of that question. It isn't about predicting the future or pressuring yourself to get there faster. It's about remembering what you care about, so your daily choices have something to point toward.
How to do it
- Set aside 20 minutes somewhere quiet.
- Pick a time frame. A year from now, or five.
- Imagine things have gone well. Not perfectly, but as well as they realistically could, in the areas that matter most to you: your creative side, your work, your relationships, your health.
- Write in detail. Where are you? What does an ordinary day look like? What are you proud of?
- Notice what stands out. Which part of the picture feels most alive? That's a clue about where to put your energy now.
You can repeat it on several days, or return to it whenever you feel you've lost the thread.
Where an accountability partner helps
A clear picture of your future is easier to hold onto when someone else has seen it too. An accountability partner is someone in your corner who can listen as you describe it, help you work out one step toward it, and care about you getting there. When a hard week pulls you off course, they can help you find your way back to what you wrote.
This week
Take 20 minutes to write about your best possible self one year from now. Underline the one detail that moves you most, and choose one small action this week that brings you a little closer to it. Let yourself feel how good it is to know where you're headed.