Future journaling brings with it all of the benefits of traditional journaling, but it also includes a few unique benefits you can’t get from normal journaling. Here are five of the top unique benefits you can only get from future journaling.

Increases Self Awareness

Journaling helps you become more aware of your thoughts and feelings in general. Future journaling also helps you become more aware of how the choices you make today and the actions you undertake will affect your future self and the life you lead. It helps you identify and change bad habits and patterns that may be negatively affecting you. It also helps you identify your values and what you like and dislike about your current life.

Better Decision Making

As you get used to being more aware of how your actions impact your life and will impact your future, you will start to make better decisions. You will become used to thinking about the long-term consequences of your choices and not just the short-term ones. This will in turn improve your overall life, both in the present and the future.

Goal Clarification

Future journaling will help you get clear on what your goals are. Many people don’t have a clear idea of what they want from life. They have a vague sense of wanting “this or that.” Future journaling makes you think as if you already have those things -and thus makes you consider if you really do want them.

Increases Future Anticipation

When you get clear about what your goals are and what kind of life you want to lead, you’re going to want to get there and to do so yesterday. Future journaling will tremendously increase your anticipation for the future. This will in turn spur you to act and make decisions that will speed up the attainment of your goals.

Improves Ability to Delay Gratification

It might seem contradictory, but future journaling also improves your ability to delay gratification. This is a hard skill for everyone to master because our brains are hardwired to want what we want and to want it now. Assuming you are going to get something, even if it’s in the future, which is what future journaling does, increases your willpower to delay gratification. You know you’ll get there, so you’re more willing to wait.

These are just a few of the unique benefits of future journaling. It’s truly a fantastic self-help technique!

Until next time, say safe, and keep the faith.