Why Write a Letter to my Future Self

Like an economy which goes through periods of boom and bust, reflecting over my past shows periods of high productivity followed by those of decline. I call the years which coincide with this decline the wasted years. Or if I’m feeling particularly self-critical, the dark years. However, none of these terms really describe what these years are, especially so the term years of decline. During such years, I’m not so much declining as staying still, temporarily content with the fleeting results from the most recent period of high productivity. While the rest of the world forges ahead, the result is a personal decline.
Thankfully, a larger milestone relative to the previous one has always come along. So far the majority of them have been provided by the system. Particularly the education system, and to a lesser degree the societal expectations attached to increasing age. I have observed that in the UK for instance, by 26yo people are expected to have carried out enough personal development that they no longer need the development gained through placement years or some graduate internships. They are therefore shut out from these opportunities by age limits. The same thing applies to most competitions I see, for which people above a certain age limit are deemed over qualified.
With this awareness and having identified the way my development accelerates majorly just before a milestone not of my making, I am apprehensive of the danger inherent in launching into a post graduate career building phase without setting milestones which will sustain a reasonable rate of personal development. So, apart from setting very long term goals and establishing an idea of where I want to be x, y or z years from now, I decided to write a letter to my future self. Being hopefully, on the cusp of another phase of accelerated personal growth, due to my approaching final year of university. And the pressure it creates to excel in order to have a choice when looking for jobs, I thought it was a good time to write a letter for the predicted year(s) of decline post this period. Something to remind me that I will only have achieved one of many more milestones, so complacency should not be a mistake I repeat again.

