Free Letter to Your Future Self Template (Printable PDF)

The short version. Download the template, print it, fill in the six sections in about twenty minutes and seal it in an envelope with the opening date on the front. If you would rather it arrived by itself, type the same answers into a digital letter and choose the date.

Download the template

Letter to your future self template (PDF, English)

Also in Spanish, German and Italian. Free to print and share, including in a classroom.

What is in the template

Two A4 pages, designed to be handwritten:

1. The date, your age and where you are writing from.
2. A snapshot of right now: an ordinary day, the people around you, what things cost.
3. What you hope will have changed by the time you read it.
4. What you are worried about, written honestly.
5. Three questions for your future self.
6. One promise or dare you can check, and a line to sign.

How to fill it in

1. Set a timer for twenty minutes, so you write instead of polishing.
2. Fill the snapshot first. It is the part you will value most and remember least.
3. Keep hopes loose. “I hope I found a job I like” ages better than “I will be a manager”.
4. Write the worry anyway. It is often the line that moves you most later.
5. Seal the envelope and write the opening date on the front in large digits.

A filled-in example

Date and place: 12 March, the kitchen table, 27 years old.

Right now: I work at the bakery on weekends, I just moved in with Tom, a coffee costs 3.20 and I listen to the same album on every commute.

I hope that by now: I finished the course and I am calmer about money.

I am worried that: I am wasting my twenties being careful.

Questions: Did you move abroad? Do you still talk to Anna? Are you proud of yourself?

My promise: I will have been to one concert a month. Check.

Paper or digital?

Paper feels personal and costs nothing, but it depends on you keeping the envelope and remembering when to open it. A digital letter arrives on its own on the date you choose and can carry photos and a voice note. Many people do both: the handwritten page in a drawer and the same words sealed as a digital letter so they are sure to arrive.

Using it with a class

The template works for students from about ten years old. Print one per student, run it in a single lesson and agree the opening date together. The classroom time capsule guide covers the lesson plan, consent and how to make sure the letters are opened.

Stuck on a section? The 100 prompts in the full guide and these seven example letters will get you going.