Right now

You’ve made resolutions. You committed to them. But real life is already seeping in. That “I will do it no matter what this time” attitude was all energy / anger / desperation but no planning, or time / energy / resources management. So what happened? The same thing that happens every time you try this. It didn’t work, and it made you “unhappy” to say the least.

Now what? Well, what would any sane person do when they are at the end of their rope—again? Hiring a coach who properly creates a plan based on the time / energy / resources concept is certainly a solid way to handle this. However, if you want to do something a bit radical and self-driven why not just do this:

Send a note to yourself from the future so that it never happens.

Goodnight everyone! Thanks for coming! (runs off stage). No, seriously. Here is a step-by-step way to do this, why and how it works.

This insane method of getting yourself to do something combines hindsight, planning, commitment, visualization, a reward system and the placebo effect. That is obviously a powerful combination, in fact it should be unstoppable if you actually do it.

What makes it work

For this to work you need to make sure each component is in place.

Decide what you want to happen – Is it weight loss, health, learning something, body sculpting, even a new job. You have to pick something fairly specific, and this is probably common in most methods

Visualize the final product – This is you in the future. Imagine what/who you are, how you feel. Visualize that you. Many times you have probably said in your mind or out loud, “If only this would happen/I’d accomplish this then I’d be/look like this, and I’d be smiling.” So imagine yourself with this thing, this accomplishment, this happiness. Just look at you, you smug future self! Of course you’re happy, you have that thing I don’t have! Go ahead, get mad. After all he’s you and has what you don’t have.

Now use hindsight – If this is so great and you really want it why hasn’t it happened? You’re not a dumb person. You probably have some cool accomplishments in your life, and some of them are probably amazing. They are at least amazing to other people. Don’t dismiss them. You’ve done those other things. “That was different/that was easy.” OK, this one is going to be different/easy too. It’s OK.

Jot down what this hasn’t worked in the past. Every painful, annoying reason It might be something super simple, and singular. You may be embarringly aware of it. OK. Write that down.

Write the note. Now that you know what you want, what it will look like, and why it hasn’t worked, you can instruct yourself how to do it.

Choose a span of time – How much time, realistically, would it take to accomplish this? A week? A month? Three months? Six months?

Note that the more time you choose the less likely this note from the future will do what you thought it would. See Steering from afar for why that is. Meaning, if you choose that the note is being sent to you from five years in the future, that’s going to take some major belief and commitment, and things may change—a lot. Don’t let me dissuade you from choosing a longer span though. Some things may require a long span, as in “I’m married and have three great kids” and ...