Try This Time Travel Exercise

 I came across the following exercise when I was reading a book called The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.
Now, I’ve said it here before that I don’t agree with all of the things in the book, but it does have quite a few good practical exercises like the following that I think are cool:

This is a Time Traveling/ Goal Setting exercise:

1. Looking ahead, describe yourself at the age of eighty.

• What did you accomplish after the age of fifty that you enjoyed? Be specific.
Now, write down what your eighty year old self would tell your current self.
• What would you write?
• What interests would you encourage yourself to pursue?
• What dreams would you encourage?

2. Next, remember yourself at the age of eight.
• What did you like to do? What were your favorite things?
Now, write down what your eight year old self would tell your current self.
• What would you write?

At first glance, I thought this exercise sounded somewhat corny. But I began to give it some thought:

The first phaseof the Time Travel exercise gives you the chance to picture and describe your success as an artist or designer several years down the road, then relay it back, helping to build your road map that leads to your success.

The second phase of the Time Travel exercise allows you to reach back to the things that made being creative fun! Many of the things that you enjoyed drawing, painting, making or just doing as a kid may have gotten buried by the seriousness of your adult life. Hearing the creative passion of the young artist that you were, who actually believed that ANYTHING was possible, serves as a reminder as you set your goals going forward.

Next time, I’ll post the writings from my eighty year old and eight year old selves to the current me. In the meantime, I challenge you to do the exercise yourself and share with us in the comments area below what you uncover:

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