Writing Your Next Five Years
“Where do you see yourself in five years?”
The question is ubiquitous, but how often have you explored it beyond the canned job interview context? Have you ever sat down and drilled into this as an exercise in setting intentions and creating your future?
In August 2004, a spiritual coach gave me a writing assignment. Simple in its rules and parameters, the exercise took the better part of a single day to initiate, but I’ve waited five years to assess the results.
The Assignment
Materials
- A pen — not a pencil; there is no editing or refinement — no “perfectionism” allowed — the ink is for a sacred, binding, contractual commitment.
- A new, one-subject spiral notebook. You use a single-subject spiral notebook for a couple of reasons — it’s generally the least expensive, easiest to find — it’s “disposable”; you don’t want a “precious” journal here — and the spiral represents Time on a conceptual, magical level.
Rules of Execution
- Imagine your life as it will be (as you desire it to be) five years from now, in as much detail as possible.
- List every detail of your future life you can possibly think of — no matter how fantastic or mundane.
- List each item / detail in the present tense.
- Start each item on a new line with an empty line in between — this is a huge list, not paragraphs of prose.
- Use only the front side of each page.
- Fill as much of the notebook as you can, preferably in one sitting and no longer than a single day. (I wrote most of my list in an afternoon and part of that evening, leaving the book open and coming back to it throughout the day as I thought of new items to add.)
- When the day is over, your notebook is full, or you run out of new details to list, whichever happens first, you seal the pages in an envelope. (You can tear the pages out and put them in a regular letter-sized envelope, or you can put the entire notebook in a large, brown magazine-sized envelope.)
- Address the envelope to yourself and date it exactly five years into the future. (Be sure and put your name on it, so that if someone else were to run across it, or you forget what’s inside, at least it’s understood who’s supposed to open it.)
- Put it somewhere safe, somewhere you can both forget about it for awhile and eventually find it again.
- Do not open it until that date five years into the future!
At the time I did this exercise, I had not started writing about or teaching intention manifestation, but today I feel that the premise is obviously built around some basic concepts:
- Focus on manifesting the What, not the How
- Once you get clear about the What and commit it to words, your Order to the Universe has been delivered
- Constantly re-stating the What keeps unnecessarily restarting/ rebooting the Intention
- Once your Mind has seen/ witnessed/ experienced the detail, even if you consciously forget, it is stored forever at a sub-conscious level
My Experience
Five years ago, I was NOT in a good place — it was absolutely one of the lowest I hope to ever know — my basic health and survival were in crisis; I was financially destitute; I had lost two jobs in a row; I lost my cat, Cera, who had been my companion for fifteen years, my entire adult life at that point…many of my long-term friendships had evaporated… I was quite literally suicidal.
I wrote my future in desperation, with some faint remaining crumb of hope that I still had a future at all…
Finally opening up the envelope this week to assess the fruition of the intentions I had set all those years ago was like unlocking a time capsule from someone else’s life. The most revelatory part of this experiment was seeing not just What wishes had “come true” for me, but the unpredictable, unimaginable ways in which they have manifested. I’m blown away by how the things that might have seemed the most far-fetched — the biggest Long Shots — have indeed become this better reality of my Today. Had I revisited the list I had written in the interim — say one, two, or even three years in — I would not have thought I could possibly have been on the right path.
There are very few of the items I envisioned that have NOT come to pass, actually. I have a new found faith in my power to create profound, positive change. How might another round of this exercise benefit from an infusion of that life-altering perspective? It’s time to write my next five years.
Image credit theilr via Creative Commons on Flickr
Contacting Your Spirit Guides - 101
Free resources for Shift Your Spirits readers:
- Read the ebook by Slade Roberson especially for beginners who want to know who/what spirit guides are and how to communicate with them
- Listen to the mp3 preview of the Spirit Guide Attunement portion of the Talking to Your Spirit Guides class by Slade Roberson
- Try the meditation to Meet a Guide contributed by Jeff Lilly of Druid Journal
Comments
11 Responses to “Writing Your Next Five Years”
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Slade, this is a great idea. I feel quite moved to do this.
I read that the recent eclipses have ushered in a new era for the next 16 years (have I got that right ?!) and I definitely feel like there has been a turning point in the energies recently (or at least in my life) so it feels like a good time for setting new intentions for the next five (or 16!) years.
I know the power of writing down intentions. I love revisiting my journal from one year ago, and it’s amazing to see how things have manifested, right down to the last detail. I also found a vision board that I made a year ago and so much of that has manifested already as well. It’s uncanny.
Much love,
Anna
This is a fantastic exercise. I have done this before, but not with the “five year” review. I have written down my intentions…tucked the writing away…and run across it at some point in the future. I have always been amazed at how close I come to creating exactly what I wrote down.
A few weeks ago I wrote a “two years from now” journal entry. I wrote it as if I was reviewing my day…it was incredible how the ideas/words/events flowed so effortlessly. I will be interesting to see where I’m at in two years.
Thank you for sharing this. This is a powerful recipe.
Hi Slade, yes I’ve done this in the past and sometimes it doesn’t even take five years. I’m on a true roll right now in a very good place just because I have placed that Universal order with a very clear determination of the What. Thanks for your continued wisdom and inspiration. I’m so pleased that you’ve bounced back.
Slade, this is so inspiring. Strange (but not!) I purchased a new spiral notebook last evening and have not touched it yet. Wasn’t even sure why I purchased it as I have a couple others on the go already. Looks like I have my answer.
Your sharing of being in your lowest point 5 years ago touched my heart strings. I know of what you speak. I’m no longer in that dark place I was once, but certainly will have fun with this exercise.
Thank you again for your inspiration.
Hello
It is interesting what you say about stating intentions once and no more, and how the “rebooting” effect comes in. From other sources I have learnt that you need to restate or “feel the feeling” of achieving / experiencing those intentions everyday. And I have done that before. Rewritten my goals each day for weeks at a time. Some have come true. But not enough to inspire me, leaving me with a feeling that I am doing this all wrong.
I will do your time capsule method today. And will get my intentions down on paper, packaged and put away for five years.
And on this note, I have found that some of the intentions that did manifest, were in ways that made me unhappy, as they were not accompanied by the personal growth which I had also specified. I don’t know how or why that happened, as I believe I have been using unambiguous language.
But here is another opportunity.
Thanks for your posts
God Bless you
Rili
Slade,
After reading this post, I slipped a fresh notebook and pen in my bag and set out with little fanfare to my favorite coffee shop. As I listed my details, right away I saw a clear pattern of a life and vocation shaped by my deepest values repeating. The vocation emerging looks very much like “priest” - writing, counseling, crafting and leading ritual, public speaking, community building.
But I am afraid to go into as much detail as I can imagine because that might be limiting. And I’m afraid to make assumptions - i.e. assume that I’ll be romantically involved with the same man, or that I won’t or will have children in five years. Some of my expectations about the life I desire to live might be unrealistic.
How do I make this list as vivid and complete without hemming myself in? I’ve left the book open as you did to add and elaborate through the evening.
Thanks for sharing this assignment with us! It’s one I’m glad to take on.
-Sarah
Slade, I always enjoy and appreciate your posts…thank you for sharing. I know this is overstepping our bounds as readers, but I would love to hear what’s on your list for five years from now (no need to oblige).
I made a vision board about 11 years ago…I pulled it out recently…it could have been a collage made about my life today…even my wife looks just like the picture on my board.
Perhaps you’ll share with us five years from now what came true for you,
All my best,
David
Every year on January 1st, I do a version of this exercise. I put it away and don’t look at it until the following year - this is assuming I remember where I put it to begin with. When I find and review the list, I’m always surprised that I have manifested most everything on the list. If I haven’t, chances are I’m no longer interested in manifesting that item or experience.
Thanks for the 5 year suggestion. I shall give it a try!
~Betsy~
Great exercise! I recently read something by Emmet Fox, where he said not to keep affirming what you want or restating your desires, because it indicates you don’t trust/believe that it will happen. Now, you indicate the same message in this post: “Constantly re-stating the What keeps unnecessarily restarting/ rebooting the Intention.” This makes so much sense! Thanks!
Anna,
I definitely agree with you about the value of journaling and what you can rediscover in writing your life. I too enjoy all the various exercises and forms of journaling. For nearly all my life it’s been central to my experience.
Lisa,
It is uncanny what you can bring through in these types of exercises. Thanks for sharing the Two-Year version.
Tom,
You’re very welcome. Congratulations on your “roll” — keep on rolling, man!
Sue,
Wow — very cool serendipitious and mysterious spiral notebook purchase — the timing of that is too auspicious! You know, I shared the fact that I did this exercise in a very “dark” period, because I wanted those who find themselves in a similar circumstance to not just dismiss the possibility that this is coming from a “feel good, everything’s peachy” place. Even though I did not feel powerful at all, the exercise certainly proved to have an empowering force.
Rili,
Definitely an opportunity to “mix it up” and try setting intentions from the other, less frequent, less constant end of the spectrum. Especially if you find that overly focusing on them on a daily basis is not producing the results you hope for. I have personally found that stating affirmations on a regular basis is useful, but those things that are more about “goals” are better given time to grow…
David,
I will definitely share those things with you that come true in future. A lot of times, when I present an exercise like this, I will invite others to share specifics in the comments. This time, I certainly felt it should be intensely private. (Plus, we don’t want anywhere we can “cheat” and come back and read what we wrote in the interim… myself included!)
Betsy,
Maybe doing some “yearly” versions as well would be a good idea. I like what you said about the things that have not manifested tend to be things you are “no longer interested in” … I found that there seemed to be less relationship between “priority items” and “incidental” ones. Meaning, the things I wrote about in multiple ways did not necessarily prove to be more likely to manifest than a little, tiny, brief one-line item that I might have felt I was throwing in “randomly.”
A perfect example would be the existence of this web site, Shift Your Spirits. I definitely mentioned writing a column about my personal spiritual experiences, but it was a small “blip” on a huge list and there was no detail about the form that “category” within my writing projects might take. In reality, that one little seed seems to have grown into one of the Biggest Trees I planted…
Ruth,
Emmet Fox’s reasoning that it’s a “trust/belief” issue makes a lot of sense in terms of what I feel is behind that “rebooting” action. That fearful lack of confidence is definitely a motivation in overstating your intentions. Thanks for sharing that with us!
Ok, I got to say it. This exercise was hard for me. One thing that is a matter of question for me is : Looking at the Big Picture. When I am eating lunch, I don’t want to think what I will be having for dinner, etc. I tend to get all caught up with living in the moment and enjoying myself and that routine of sleep, eat, work..that I don’t look ahead to the future. So, I stay at a job too long or pay rent into an apartment too long and I think this might not be a good thing, at times.
Slade, how does one still live in the moment, but plan for the future? How does one break out of their comfort zone and reach their dreams? I know big questions. I just needed to lay them out and see them in digital print to make them more real.