The science behind Tappling
What Would Your Future Self Tell You? The Psychology of Future-Self Letters
Imagine receiving a letter from someone who knows your dreams, understands your struggles, and wants the best for you. Now imagine that person is you, a little further into the future.
Dear me,
I know you've been wondering whether things will work out.
You've been trying so hard to get everything right.
I wish you could see how much you've already grown.
Keep going. You don't need to have everything figured out today.
How would it feel to receive those words from a future version of yourself?
Even though the letter would be imaginary, the experience of considering your future self can be meaningful.
Psychologists have studied why we sometimes feel disconnected from the people we'll become, and whether making that future person feel more real can influence our choices today.
The research points toward an interesting possibility: feeling connected to your future self may help you make decisions that better reflect your long-term interests.
Why can our future selves feel like strangers?
Think about yourself ten years from now.
Will you have the same priorities? The same friendships? The same daily routine?
Some things may be familiar. Others could be completely different.
This creates an interesting psychological challenge.
We understand that our future selves are technically us, but we don't always feel emotionally connected to them.
Researchers call the sense of connection between your present and future identity future-self continuity. [4]
It includes how similar, connected, and vividly imaginable your future self feels.
When that connection is weak, immediate rewards may feel more compelling than benefits that arrive much later.
When the connection is stronger, we may be more willing to consider the interests of the person we're becoming.
What does research say about future-self connection?
In 2011, psychologist Hal Hershfield and colleagues published research investigating whether making people's future selves more vivid could influence financial decisions. [1]
Across several experiments, participants interacted with age-progressed representations of themselves.
In certain study conditions, people exposed to older versions of themselves demonstrated greater willingness to allocate resources toward future retirement needs.
The research suggests that making the future self more psychologically accessible can influence some long-term decisions.
However, the studies examined particular experimental decisions and representations. They don't establish that every kind of future-self visualization improves financial behavior.
Can writing a letter to your future self change your behavior?
A 2018 study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied examined future-self continuity and health-related behavior. [2]
The researchers first found an association between stronger future-self continuity and better self-reported health.
In a separate experiment, participants wrote letters addressed either three months or twenty years into the future.
Participants in the more distant-future condition subsequently reported more exercise in the days following the writing task.
This provides experimental evidence that certain future-self exercises can influence behavior, at least in the studied context.
It doesn't mean writing a future-self letter guarantees that you'll build better habits.
But it suggests that feeling more connected to your future identity may sometimes affect what you do today.
What about receiving a letter from your future self?
This is an especially relevant question.
There's a difference between writing a message to your future self and imagining a message from that person.
In research published in Self and Identity in 2021, psychologists Yuta Chishima and Anne Wilson studied letter exchanges between present and future selves. [3]
Participants were guided to write a letter to a future version of themselves and then reply from that future perspective.
In one experiment, students assigned to a two-way letter exchange showed improvements in future-self continuity, career planning, and academic delay of gratification compared with students who only wrote to their future selves.
That suggests there may be value in more than simply describing the future.
Taking the perspective of a future version of yourself may help make that person feel more connected to who you are today.
The research involved student populations and a structured writing activity, so the results shouldn't be generalized to every person or every type of letter.
Read the future-self letter study.
Does future-self thinking really change people's lives?
The broader evidence is promising, but mixed.
A 2025 systematic review published in Personality Science examined 14 articles containing 23 studies on future-self continuity interventions. [4]
These studies evaluated approaches designed to make the future self feel more vivid, connected, or personally relevant.
Researchers found examples of improvements in behavioral outcomes, with effects varying considerably between studies.
They also identified important gaps: study samples were often limited, interventions differed, and results weren't consistently positive.
The most reasonable conclusion is that future-self connection is a promising area of behavioral research, not a universally proven shortcut to personal transformation.
Read the 2025 systematic review.
Can AI-generated future-self letters be helpful?
Researchers have begun examining how artificial intelligence might support future-self reflection.
A study published through the IEEE Frontiers in Education conference investigated an interactive system called Future You. [5]
The system allowed participants to communicate with an AI-generated representation of their older selves.
In a preregistered study involving 344 participants, researchers reported greater future-self continuity and lower self-reported anxiety following the interaction relative to comparison conditions.
This is relevant because it suggests that personalized AI-generated future-self experiences deserve investigation.
But there are major distinctions.
The study used an interactive digital character, synthetic future memories, and an age-progressed representation. It was not a trial of Tappling's letter experience.
And the reported changes were measured in a specific study setting; they do not establish durable mental-health benefits.
How to try a future-self letter exercise
You don't need to predict exactly where you'll be.
Instead, imagine a possible future in which you've grown in a direction that matters to you.
Try "A Page From Tomorrow"
- Think about an aspiration.
Perhaps you want more confidence, a fulfilling relationship, a healthier routine, or the courage to pursue something meaningful.
Choose something personally important.
- Imagine a future version of yourself.
Picture someone who has made some progress toward that aspiration.
They aren't necessarily perfect.
They've had setbacks and difficult days, but they've learned something along the way.
- Imagine what they might tell you.
What would they want you to understand?
What might they appreciate about the effort you're making today?
What would they encourage you to keep doing?
For example:
"You're allowed to learn as you go. The small things you're doing matter more than you realize."
- Notice what resonates.
Not every imagined message will feel useful.
You can keep what seems encouraging and disregard what doesn't fit.
- Return to your present choices.
A future-self letter can offer perspective.
But the life you're imagining is shaped by the choices, opportunities, and circumstances that exist in the real world.
You don't need to make a dramatic change immediately.
Consider whether the letter reminds you of something meaningful you can do today.
Is the letter a prediction?
No.
This is especially important when AI generates the words.
An AI-generated future-self letter is an imaginative reflection, not a message from your actual future and not a prediction of what will happen.
It can't know whether you'll get a particular job, meet a specific person, recover from an illness, or achieve a financial milestone.
It also shouldn't suggest that failing to reach a goal means you didn't believe strongly enough.
The most helpful future-self letter offers a perspective worth considering, rather than certainty about an uncertain future.
You remain the person who decides what the letter means to you.
What if my future feels uncertain or frightening?
That's okay.
You don't need to imagine a flawless future to benefit from reflecting on one.
Sometimes a gentler approach is to imagine your future self as someone who has learned to navigate uncertainty, rather than someone whose life has turned out perfectly.
You might ask:
"What would a wiser, kinder version of me want me to hear?"
That's a different question from:
"How can I guarantee the future I want?"
If future-oriented exercises make you feel pressured, anxious, or discouraged, it's reasonable to stop or choose another type of reflection.
This is meant to be an invitation, not another demand.
Your future self begins with the person you are today
It's easy to imagine personal growth as a dramatic transformation.
A completely different person.
A completely different life.
But the future version of you won't appear all at once.
That person will emerge through countless experiences, decisions, relationships, and changes you cannot entirely predict.
You don't need to know how the whole story unfolds.
Sometimes, it may be enough to imagine what a future version of yourself would say if they could offer you a little encouragement today.
That's the idea behind A Page From Tomorrow, Tappling's Future Me exercise.
Using your saved aspiration, or a general growth theme if none is available, Tappling requests an AI-generated letter from a possible future version of yourself. If generation is unavailable, a generic letter can appear instead.
It's not a prophecy or a guarantee.
It's a moment of reflection, with your little companion beside you, to consider who you're becoming and what might matter along the way.
You don't have to be that future person yet.
You can begin where you are.
Sources & further reading
- Increasing saving behavior through age-progressed renderings of the future self
Hershfield, H. E., et al. (2011). "Increasing saving behavior through age-progressed renderings of the future self." Journal of Marketing Research, 48, S23–S37. Experimental research investigating how vivid representations of one's future identity can affect retirement-oriented financial decisions.
- Future self-continuity is associated with improved health and increases exercise behavior
Rutchick, A. M., Slepian, M. L., Reyes, M. O., Pleskus, L. N., & Hershfield, H. E. (2018). "Future self-continuity is associated with improved health and increases exercise behavior." Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 24(1), 72–80. Includes a letter-writing experiment examining future-self connection and subsequent exercise behavior.
- Conversation with a future self: A letter-exchange exercise enhances student self-continuity, career planning, and academic thinking
Chishima, Y., & Wilson, A. E. (2021). "Conversation with a future self: A letter-exchange exercise enhances student self-continuity, career planning, and academic thinking." Self and Identity, 20(5), 646–671. Experimental research on sending letters to and writing replies from an imagined future self. Published online in 2020; journal issue 2021.
- The Effects of Future Self-Continuity Interventions on Behavioral Outcomes in Adults: A Systematic Review of the Literature
Grekin, E. R., Thomas, H. A., Souweidane, M. A., & Stidham, J. L. (2025). "The Effects of Future Self-Continuity Interventions on Behavioral Outcomes in Adults: A Systematic Review of the Literature." Personality Science, 6. Systematic review of 23 studies examining the effectiveness and limitations of future-self interventions.
- Future You: A Conversation with an AI-Generated Future Self Reduces Anxiety, Negative Emotions, and Increases Future Self-Continuity
Pataranutaporn, P., et al. Future You: A Conversation with an AI-Generated Future Self Reduces Anxiety, Negative Emotions, and Increases Future Self-Continuity. IEEE Frontiers in Education conference proceedings; DOI: 10.1109/FIE61694.2024.10893443. The author manuscript was released in 2024 (arXiv:2405.12514). Tests an interactive AI future-self system, not Tappling letters.