35 Future Self Journal Prompts for Becoming Your Best Self

It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day chaos that is life. With so much to think about in the short-term between work, maybe school, running errands, self-maintenance, and taking time for yourself, it’s challenging to step back and be intentional when thinking about the long-term.

Before you know it, the month just flies on by! Didn’t the new year just start like two days ago?! Then it’s the month after, and the year after… and…oops! You realize you didn’t give the future much thought and now it’s catching up with you all at once.

If this sounds like you, don’t fear! These future self journal prompts are your go-to journaling guide for getting clear on what you want out of the future and how you define “your best self.”

I know that when life gets busy, I get comfortable living in the present because the present is plenty enough of a chore on its own! But don’t let that be you. Taking time to reflect on these future self writing prompts and examples will allow you to map out your goals and feel reassured that you are on the right track.

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35 Future Self Journal Prompts to Figure Out Your Ideal Self

Feel like you have no idea where you’re going? Has keeping up with the day-to-day made you neglect long-term planning? I’ve got you covered with this future self journaling guide! All these journal questions will get you feeling way more clear on who you want your future self to be.

In one big brain dump, describe all the traits, habits, and lifestyle design your future self will possess.
What is your #1 goal for a year from today? In 5 years? 10 years?
What is the biggest challenge you foresee in the next 5 years?
What kind of encouragement and support do you think your future self would give to you right now?
Which current struggles do you think your future self will overcome/manage better?
What would you value having in your daily life most?
What would you like your morning and night routines to look like?
Where would you like to live one day?
What’s keeping you stuck right now?
Name 3 good habits you’d like to start doing and how you’ll work them into your routine.
Name 3 bad habits you’d like to drop and how you can work toward letting them go.
What are you most grateful for right now?
What do you have in your life now that your past self would be proud to see?
What was something your past self dreamed of or wished for that actually came true?
What’s been your biggest struggle when it comes to sticking to goals?
What kind of self care routine would your future self have?

How will your future self prioritize her mental and physical health?
What are some much-needed boundaries your future self will enforce?
What would a better version of yourself look like?
Looking back, what do you wish you’d done differently?
What has been the most pivotal thing you’ve learned about yourself in the last few years?
What are three daily affirmations you can tell yourself each day for self love?
What would you like your social circle to look like?
What would you like your love life or family life to look like?
What new hobbies or interests will your future self pursue?
What skills or knowledge will your future self have?
What are some unhelpful behaviors you need to change to become your best self?
What is one habit you can realistically start today that will help you get on track?
Describe/visualize your biggest hopes and dreams for the future without holding back
How do you feel (honestly) when you think about the future?
In what ways are you not looking forward to the future?
In what ways are you fired up and excited about the future?
What new opportunities do you foresee yourself having in the future?
What place will you be at with your journeys? (i.e: fitness journey, wellness journey, spiritual journey, etc.)
What will you enjoy the most about your future life?

What does it mean to practice future self journaling?

Simply put, future self journaling is asking yourself questions to help you better-envision your future, your goals, and your values.

It’s asking yourself: what is the best version of myself and what is it that makes them the “best”?

With such a broad question, you might not know where to start, and that’s totally fine. That’s what future self journal prompts like the ones in this post are for, allowing you to ask this question across many areas of your life to break things down.

Getting Started with Future Self Journal Prompts

1. Identify: Who is your ideal self?

First things first, and this question is quite open-ended so just take note of whatever comes to mind, who is your ideal self? Who do you want to be when you see yourself next year? In 5 years? In 10 years?

Does she feel secure and content with where she’s at in life? Does she avoid stressing over what she can’t control? Is she put-together in all the right ways? Elaborate on what this means for you, and be sure to consider every category of your life. Your home, your career, your mental health, your hobbies, and so on!

2. Visualize: What does your ideal self do?

Now that you’ve pinned down some basic traits about your future self, now think about what that future version of you is doing.

What’s their morning routine like? What do they like to do in their free time? Do they live in a cabin in the woods, or right on the beach? Do they work a comfortable 9-5 or did they venture out as an entrepreneur? What makes them feel alive?

So think in terms of both mindset and attitude as well as habits and activities when going through these future self journal prompts.

3. Implement: Plan out the actionable steps you’ll take for your future self

Turn these observations of how you view your future self and restructure them into specific goals. If one of your ideas is “I see my future self living on the coast of Maine,” you can get more specific by saying “I will save $x amount per year so that in 5 years, I can move to Maine.”

Remember, always tie each goal to its accompanying habits. Goals are great, but how often do we make goals like New Year’s Resolutions, only to stop after a month because we made the goal but not the habits? I’ll show you what I mean in the next example.

Future self journaling example

Identify: In 5 years, my future self will have her anxiety down to a manageable level with solid coping tools in place.

Visualize: My future self journals every time she feels overwhelmed, without even thinking twice. She makes meditation a priority. She also goes to therapy and has made significant progress in taming her anxious thoughts and behaviors.

Implement: Each time I feel things piling up too much, I will make that my cue to grab my journal. I will meditate each night right after I get in bed to wind down from the stress of the day. I will find the best therapist for me and make time for my appointments once a week every week.

This creates a nice little funnel from desires > goals > habits. You can try this template with any goal of yours!

Why should you start future self journaling?

1. It helps you identify goals that align with your values

Finding the right goals for you that align with what you value is a must.

It might feel tempting to copy someone else’s goals or make impulsive decisions about what you want for yourself, but making things intentional and personal to YOU without worrying about society’s expectations is far more beneficial.

Studies also show that your conception of your future self has a large impact on the long-term choices you make.

Take that in for a second.

If you’re feeling stuck or hopeless about the future, and you let that mindset bleed into your actions and habits, that can harm your future self. If your knee-jerk reaction is to prepare for when you fail, you won’t be supporting your chances of success.

If you believe you can achieve something, you’re offering yourself the (much needed) self-support to improve your chances of reaching a goal.

All in all, get clear on what you value most at the end of the day and create your goals with your values as the driving force! That’s when these future self journal prompts will work their magic.

2. It helps you map out a game plan for achieving your goals

This part is SO important. You have to have a strategy in place in order to make goals that actually stick. Making mindless goals with no plan on how you’ll actually go about achieving the goal is a recipe for disaster.

If you always seem to be making goals only to get demotivated and give up, you would really benefit from my printable goal planner.

This goal planner will help you map out ANY goal for ANY area of your life from A-Z, zoning in on all the nitty gritty details to make the perfect game plan for identifying your values, setting your goals, nailing down the right habits, and ACTUALLY ACHIEVING THE GOAL!

You are 100% capable of setting goals and reaching them. You just haven’t implemented the right strategy. That’s where the printable goal planner can help you!

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3. It helps you stay accountable

And staying accountable is half the battle, am I right? You’d be surprised at how much something as simple as clarity can help you stay accountable.

Clarity on who you are, who you want to become, and how you’ll get there will help you avoid losing sight of the long-term goal because you’ll begin viewing the process toward a goal as an ongoing journey. Using future self journal prompts can be a game changer for this.

4. It helps you visualize your success

Research shows us that when you visualize yourself reaching a goal, your brain believes the imagery to be reality. This creates new neural pathways to support that reality.

So visualizing your success really is a proven way to help you achieve it. By practicing future self journaling, you guide yourself by fully immersing yourself in all the details of your ideal future life!

Biggest takeaway: using future self journal prompts changes your mindset

Kay, so what’s the best thing about using future self journal prompts?! The mindset shift.

The best benefit of all is learning how to change your mindset in terms of your outlook on the future. I mean, shoot, the future can be a little scary to think about sometimes because of all the unknowns at play.

But while we can’t exactly control everything that happens in the future, we can create the best roadmap possible for ourselves by knowing exactly where we’re going and how to get there. With these journal questions as your guide, you’ll be on the right track.

Good luck in your future self journaling journey!