Tell a future version to guide today’s choice

Imagine you’re at your own 80th birthday. Friends gather to celebrate. Your obit-style life story is read aloud—centering not on wealth or awards, but on moments you’re proud of and the regrets you never had. You hear, ‘She spent summers traveling with her kids, never missed a Sunday lunch, and always said yes when it counted.’ Doesn’t that feel warm?

Viktor Frankl urged us to ‘live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now.’ Plenty of studies show that mentally time-traveling shifts our priorities: downscaling petty dramas and zooming in on what we truly value. In a single thought experiment—writing your own obituary—you anticipate the regrets that might haunt you and realign your present choices accordingly.

In mindfulness practice, we learn to observe experiences without judgment. This ‘future-self crafting’ is similar: observe your life’s arc, but from a vantage that spans decades. That broader view detaches you from immediate pressures and reveals which regrets matter most. You end up living guided by compassion for that elder self rather than fear of a passing worry.

So take a moment today. Let your mind wander decades ahead. What stories do you want to have told? That vision is your compass—helping you steer clear of the regrets that really sting.

First, draft one paragraph about your 80-year-old self’s obituary, focusing on three regrets you’ll never want to say aloud. Next, circle those three regrets and keep that future script somewhere you can see. Then, before any big choice—job, trip, or promise—read that future-self note and ask which path leads to fewer of those regrets. This simple ritual can rewire your decisions for deeper meaning—try it tonight.