Write your way to your best future
We write for lots of reasons. If you’re running a business, or marketing one, most of the writing you do is likely to be geared towards your clients. Whether it’s helpful blogs or sales content, or persuasive web copy or social media updates, you’ll be writing with an ideal client in mind. And that’s all good. Great writing makes connections with other people.
But you can use writing to help yourself too.
Goal setting in business is powerful but the details of those goals are often confined to spreadsheets. And I find it hard to get motivated by numbers on a spreadsheet. So here’s an exercise that combines goal setting with creative writing.
It will help you uncover what you really want to achieve, and can help you chart a way to make it happen.
An exercise to write yourself into the future you want
Imagine that it’s three years from now. A time that’s far enough away to let you dream big, but not too far out of reach to feel impossible. A lot can happen in three years.
Write what you can see around you. What’s happening in your life. Where are you sitting as you write this. What can you see, hear, and touch?
Make your writing as vivid as possible. Describe the taste of the coffee that you’re drinking, and the warm weight of the mug that you’re holding in your hand.
Write how you feel about the way you’re living your life now. Make your descriptions of your feelings sensory too - as focused as a chess player, as calm as a lake, brimming with energy and joy, as relaxed as a cat stretching out in the sun, surrounded in the warmth of the people I love, stepping up to collect my award, looking like a queen.
In this exercise you’re free to think as big and bold as you like. You might not be drinking coffee at home or in the office. You might find yourself describing the measured click of your steps echoing as you walk out on stage to deliver your TED talk, or the trace of the champagne bubbles caught at the back of your throat as you look out over the deck of your yacht at sunset …. it’s up to you. It’s your writing and no one is going to mark it right or wrong.
Add sensory detail to aid visualisation
Adding the details of sound, sight and touch are important. Not only because it improves the quality of your writing - sensory details make your writing come alive (and because it’s more enjoyable to write this way) - it’s because it will make the picture much more real to you, and you’re the one that matters here.
The more you believe it and want it, the more intentional you can be about taking the steps to make it happen.
Visualisation is a great tool to use when you’re trying to make a change - to lose weight, to give up smoking, to start running - and it works for changing the trajectory of your life and business too. Write exactly where you want to be in your life as though it has already happened, and you’ve taken the first step towards making it so.
Add financial details to your future vision. How much are you earning? Where is the money coming from? What are you doing in your day to day running of the business? Is there anything that you’ve given up? If you are sipping champagne on a yacht, what happened in your life to get you there?
The only rule - don’t stop
Write without censoring yourself for 25 minutes.
In fact the only rule in this exercise is that you don’t stop writing. You’re looking to tap into your subconscious here, and sometimes it takes a bit of pushing on through to get it to kick in.
Think of it as wading through a barrier of seaweed that’s between you and a beautiful ocean. There may be a few difficult paces - these first few steps can be unpleasant, the barrier feels horrible, yuck, you really don’t want to do this - but do it anyway and and you’ll quickly be surrounded by the space and serenity of the sea. Wade purposefully through your resistance and get to the good place.
Make it so
Here’s what to do afterwards. First of all, just read through what’s come up for you. You may well be surprised.
What I love about this exercise is that it lifts you up and away from the day to day distractions and helps you focus more clearly.
It can put things into a useful new perspective. For example, if you’ve been getting stressed or tied up with delivering something for a client, look at what happened when you projected yourself into the future. How did you write about them, or have they disappeared from the picture.
If they’ve vanished from your three year vision, how are you going to get to that point? Just finish up as quickly as possible and get out, or do you need to think more carefully about how you’re going to get there. Do you need to replace them?
What kind of clients are you working for in the future? How are you going to find them?
Or are you doing something completely different three years from now? No longer working one-to-one with clients but delivering a new service or writing books or have you changed direction completely?
Write your way into uncovering what you most want to do. If your vision excites you, use it to pull you into the future you want.
Running a business is hard work, and it’s work that can take over everything - your dreams as well as your time. Setting aside half an hour to dream productively is a smart gift to give yourself.
NB this is a writing exercise from the Content Writing Club inspired by Fabienne Fredrickson.
You might also like:
Why finding your rhythm will really improve your writing
How to cope with overwhelm (and how to write for people who are feeling it too)
