Hold up the mirror. Sell people their ideal self. Appeal to their better selves. Not who they was in the past. Or, who they are now. Sell them their future-self. Motivate them. Push them to greatness. They’re standing over the edge of this mediocre building. You can pull them back by discouraging them and appealing to the basest of their character. Or, you can push them so they can fly to an elevated status. *epic pause* Push ‘em!
Tag Archives: future
Thank You!
A Conversation With My 12 Year Old Self: 20th Anniversary Edition
Maybe it’s time we video chatted.
How you know I’m writing you from the year 2033? How you know I’m NOT writing you from 2012? Or better, how you know I’m not writing you from the afterlife? What makes you so confident that time is on your side? Hmmm? Har-old, if I said you only have 5 years to live, what is absolutely essential for you to do in your life? What are the top 7 things that you would have to do for your life to be complete? Will these things disappoint you if you didn’t do ‘em? Your number one is How To Live Forever. Time only sides with the patient and the one who plans. #Self-Genius
July 22, 2011
Dear Har-old,
In the October 22, 2011 letter, of the following fortune, I had this to say,
It’s not October 22, 2011 but the progress you’re making tells me this one will come true as well.
Har-old, I was gone wait until Saturday to letter you this one, but, how could I ignore the brightness of your “lucky” star? Really? Let’s live in the moment for a minute. Your mind yielded to you the Yeebizan’s successor; you found your “Mark Zuckerberg”; your first 100k isn’t bitchy; the world’s highest paid profession is calling you; you move into your first apartment on the 1st. I must ask you …
Do you really need 3 more days? Haha!
Look in the mirror, kid. You’re looking Har+new+ish.
Like BooBear said,
And just think it’s only the beginning!
FY,
Har+new
P.S. To celebrate, I’m waving bye-bye to the iPhone notepad and changing FY’s theme to something more futuristic. But we gone keep it in the Apple family. Hint, hint. Effective tomorrow!
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- October 22, 2011 (futuristicallyyours.com)
Write That Novel
Dear Ms. Me,
I know your heart has a million and one things going on. You are letting go of some things right now and learning to allow others in. That’s good! It’s okay to be a little hesitant at first but don’t let fear hold you back. The biggest thing other than school and your beautiful children (who grow up to make you very proud by the way) is the awesome novel you’re getting ready to write.
Now I know you are excited and terrified at the same time BUT go for it! Don’t worry about being perfect right away remember they’re only looking for quantity right now. So, get plenty of rest this month and get ahead on your class work as much as possible so you’ll have plenty of time to write. Set a goal to write at least 2,000 words a day. Write about whatever you want don’t hold back of course not everyone will appreciate your subject matter but you’re not writing for everyone to enjoy it you’re writing to say you did it and so some will enjoy it. Take all those crazy thoughts you have and silly reenactments you do at home when no one is looking and put them in the book. All those silly characters you come up with when you’re absolutely bored out of your mind, use them to fill up this novel. It doesn’t have to make sense at first just reach the finish line with at least 50,000 words.
I know how you like to come up with excuses when you get scared you won’t finish something. But remember you always pull it off under pressure. You can do it! Just have a little bit more faith in yourself and forget whoever doesn’t.
Write this novel because if/when you do. You will have started the first step to a new life that you never imagined you’d have. You will be a best seller one day. By the way I’m retired and that book is only one of the ones you will write that will be apart of the residual income I’m living off of. Let me tell you now social security doesn’t get that much better so you’d better get ready for this book so I can live without worrying about the governmental security net.
Think POSITIVE MS. ME!
FY,
Mrs. Me 
Going Through The Lost & Found
Dear Feather,
You know that loss you’re trying to figure out? It doesn’t exist. You haven’t lost anything. You keep looking back on how things used to be, all the work you’ve done and you feel like you’ve lost all the rewards, progress, proof of your experiences. But you haven’t lost it, you threw it all away.
You had every right to do that, and there is no reason to despair. You could just as easily go pick it all up. But wait, don’t do that. You threw the pieces of yourself all over the place, you can’t really go pick it all up right now without abandoning who you are today. You have a family dependent on you, and you ought to be seriously comfortable before you start trekking all over the place with two kids in tow, trying to find pieces of your old life that you wouldn’t even recognize if they were put before you.
Guess what. I AM NOT looking for pieces of the past. I’m not wallowing in self-pity and some unfocused sense of loss. I have picked up the pieces of you that you needed and kept going. I’ve let go of last year’s dreams, and the dreams before that, the dreams you have now and the dreams you’re lamenting for. By doing that my dreams have evolved into something I never knew they could be.
I didn’t have to go re-do all the work I did before. I didn’t have to beg people to pay attention to me again. I didn’t have to go through pages of emails to contact people I(we) haven’t talked to in forever. Stop thinking you have to scrape up the pieces of the past and redo it all exactly like you did before. All you have to do is be you. Put yourself out there and allow me to come to you. You have used the excuse with your family that if you haven’t planned something you have a hard time adjusting…the truth is if you have planned something you have a hard time letting go of that plan.
That plan you had was great. You know that, but that plan worked as well as it should’ve for the phase you were in at that time in your life. Go ahead with a plan for the you that you’ve become since then. Most importantly realize your plans will need to change as often as you do. Allow yourself to grow, transform and adjust your goals and preferences to fit you as you expand.
I don’t really know why I’m telling you this. You know that eventually you’re going to be me. You know that you’re going to have to see things as they are. I don’t see you writing letters to your former self that you loved so much. I mean if you loved her so much why don’t you marry her??? Really? I’m sure you could find a way in your poetic mind to rationalize a metaphysical marriage between you now and you who you miss from the past. Perhaps that’s what I’m doing to you now.
I’m engaging you in a union. You knew it would happen eventually anyway, so why don’t we cut out the middle wom[b]-man…that’d be you… and cut straight to the chase. You don’t want to be who you were before. You just want the success and fulfillment you were happening upon a few years ago. You want to be ME!
But it is not that simple, and you know it. Karma is a bitch and she’s put her mark all over you. You have to integrate who you were with who you are in order to ever become ME.
The best thing I can tell you is to be happy you get to be you, be happy you’ve had a chance to be other you’s in the past, and know that all the you’s in existence sum up to my existence, and before you know it you’ll see how all the facets of you connect and you’ll appreciate the many experiences and circumstances you’ve had the opportunity to learn from in order to get to the full and balanced life you really want.
Obviously someone who could write a letter this shnazzy is worth being in the future, so get on it!
FY,
Feather
October 22, 2011
Your two fortune cookies from July 22, 2011 …
Linger over dinner discussions this week for needed advice.
Tiera. IHop. Yeebizan. Original plan.
This fortune cookie came true.
Your other fortune cookie …
Remember three months from this date! Your lucky star is shining.
It’s not October 22, 2011 but the progress you’re making tells me this one will come true as well.
Mark your calendar. You’re creating your own luck!
Let’s do this, Har-old.
I love you!
Futuristically yours,
Har+new
P.S. Eat more Chinese!
Har-old … you ARE the one!!!
You got a date with Destiny. She’s more than a girl.
I love you!
P.S. I tried uploading the video for you but EMI wouldn’t permit it. Love you again!
Voice Of The Young
In response to Who Burnt The Popcorn Again? and to anticipate those who are camera-shy, I’m rolling out audio-self-letters.
What makes this different from video-self-letters is that you will NOT be seen, only heard.
Instead of worrying about appearance, authors using this format can just focus on their delivery.
Sometimes written language can fail us as you know from text message, Har-old. So with audio-self-letters you can hear tones, epic pauses, emphasises, cadences, signature growls and all the other flexibilities one has with their voice. The written letter itself will accompany this format for follow-along purposes. Think of it as listening to an audio book while you follow along with it in your hands.
The last addition to this format is inspired by scenes of Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight: tension building music. Low background music. Preferably music without words. You know how radio personalities talk while music plays in the background. Well, that’s the idea. Think of it as a soundtrack to your letters. I bet you’re thinking about The Social Network soundtrack right now, aren’t you?
Futuristically yours,
Har+new
Who Burnt The Popcorn Again?!
Remember Burnt Popcorn?
Well, I’m expanding on the idea.
For the future-selves who know their present-self hate reading and are more visually inclined, they can do video-self-letters.
Authors can either do videos for their previously written letters or videos with brand new material.
Videos shouldn’t be longer than 5 minutes.
Different presentation, same concept.
Lights. Camera. Action.
Futuristically yours,
Har+new
3 Months To Live
If you had 3 months to live, would you do exactly what it is you’re doing right now? And if you’re not doing what you’re wanting to do, what are you waiting for?
I know what you’re waiting for … the doctor to say, “Har-old, you have 3 months to live.”
Like Napoleon Hill said,
Isn’t it strange that so often people have to be cut down by failure and defeat before they learn that they have minds capable of mastering all their problems?
9 months. Birth is predictable. When mother finds out she’s pregnant, birth months are foreseen. You live your whole life knowing your birth date. You know death is certain but you don’t know when it will happen, giving birth to the phrase, “Live everyday like it’s your last.” This is one of the unfairnesses of life. That’s why those people who get told they have 3 months to live, 6 months to live, are BLESSED. Yes, blessed!
They waste no time planning. They just do.
The wind blew this bucket over with a piece of paper in it. The paper is blowing in the wind, flying all over the place. Run and catch it. Read it. It’s a list. A to-do-list. Check marks are beside everything. There are dates beside every listed item. Notice how close the dates are to each other. “All of this in a few months,” you say to yourself. Things you say you have to wait for, be “patient” for, things you say you have to plan, know-it-all before you get started. Think that list was just written? No! Look at the quality of the paper. That list is old.
Har-old, you will soon meet someone who knows when they will die. This person won’t be sad. They will be carefree, happy, motivated and a kid again. Pick their brains! Study them. Adopt their 3 month mentality.
And you know who that person will be?
You!
Every 3 months you will die and attempt to out-do what you did in your previous life. Every 3 months you will re-create yourself. Every 3 months you will be re-incarnated into a more richer you, a more handsome you, a more healthier you, a more smarter you, a more livelier you.
Your dreams can happen faster than you think but don’t let failure and defeat be responsible for inspiring you to action.
Take responsibility for your life!
Futuristically yours,
Har+new
Possessions Start First In The Mind
Napoleon Hill said,
Give expressions of gratitude many times daily for having received that what you want even before you actually get physical possession of it.
The surprise party you knew about in advance.
You already know who will be there.
You already know where it’s located.
You already know what your gifts are.
The only thing they think you know is the date. Obviously!
So how should you act in the meantime to not tip anyone off?
You play along.
Ironically, you talk about that date, who you wish could be there, what presents you always wanted, where you wished it could be located,etc.
And they will change the subject to show their disinterest in your topic.
Even during the day of the event, they will act like they don’t what today is and how they’re sorry for forgetting.
Then …
That lead will turn on the lights and people will jump from behind couches, fall from ceilings, come out the closet, stick their heads from the fat person they were hiding behind.
And you will look as shocked as ever!
And it will be sooooo believable. You know why?
Because you worked and practiced your “surprised face” in front 
of a mirror every time you passed one. What??? For me???
Har-old, possessions start in the mind and end with the physical.
Starting with the physical displays a real surprised face. What’s wrong with that? It shows you lack self-confidence. It shows you didn’t BELIEVE that it would ACTUALLY happen.
Everything you desire but do not have physically, you possess mentally. You can think your thoughts into your hand. Please remember this!
You already have 2 billion dollars. Your faith is so STRONG that you can see this money before your eyes. So REAL you can touch it with your hands. Har-old, it’s waiting for you!
Tap the side of your head with your index finger.
Futuristically yours,
Har+new
