Writing a Ten-year Letter

Businessman Tom Chappell proposed this exercise in his book Managing Upside Down.* It can be a very productive exercise that can clarify where you want to go and help you develop a mission statement.

Based on your gifts, values, passions, and vision, write a letter to a close friend. Date it ten years from today.** Assume that everything has gone according to your dreams and wishes. Give a summary of the prior ten years going back to today. Be specific. Include promotions, achievements, accomplishments, areas of growth, spiritual changes, etc.

To help you write a straightforward letter, you may want to write the letter before you read what is below the line.

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When you are done writing, read this letter to another person, preferably to the person to whom you wrote. Discuss:

* What is your friend’s reaction?

* How did you feel about sharing what you have written?

* What seemed most important to you, judging from the letter?

* What are the things you like best about what you wrote?

* What things disappointed you?

* What did the letter say about your relationship with God?

* How did this exercise help clarify your future direction?

* What can you do to make the letter’s contents come true in reality?

* What does this say to your purpose for living?

* Tom Chappell, Managing Upside Down: The Seven Intentions of Values-Centered Leadership
(New York: William Morrow, 1999), p. 118-119.
** If you would prefer, write a three or five year letter instead of a ten year letter.