Meg Jay

I have...

a couple in my practice right now, and they're actually having a conversation with their future relationship because in about five years, their kids are going to be leaving for college and they want to be sure they have a marriage they feel good about when the kids are gone.

Or if I think about myself, I'm 51.

So I'm having a conversation with my future self about, hey, what do I want to get out of the years of my career that are just ahead in my 50s?

And time's running out.

What is it I want to get done?

So I think we always need to be in conversation with our future self.

It's just something that's new and usually quite difficult for 20-somethings.

Yeah, so, you know, again, it depends on the goal or, you know, what ended up happening between you and your future self in this conversation.

But I think like most long-form projects, so I would suggest some, you know, pencil and paper, you know, do some math, sort of sketch out some things just to start with.

And then...

As you go along, you might realize other things that are important to you down the line that you want to be sure that you get in there and add in there.

And then I would figure out, it depends on what it is, but a schedule that works for you where you check in about your progress on, you know, hey, am I being true to myself and to my future self in terms of what I said I was going to start prioritizing more?

So maybe that check-in is...

once a month.

Maybe it's every year on New Year's.

Maybe it's your birthday.

It really kind of depends.

But I do think, I mean, having this conversation one time because you, you know, heard my chat today and then dropping it is probably not going to do a lot for you.

But if it's kind of the beginning of an ongoing conversation with yourself and, you know, like with any goal, it's probably something we need to keep circling back around on of,