Best Possible Self Exercise: Picture Your Ideal Future and Put It into Words

About this tool

The Best Possible Self Exercise is a positive psychology writing practice in which you describe a hopeful, realistic future and the choices that could help you move toward it. It helps turn vague hopes into concrete details about relationships, daily life, work, or personal growth, giving you material for deciding what matters and what to try next. Your description can include ordinary comforts, support from others, and room for uncertainty. You do not need to picture a perfect life or assume every outcome is within your control.

Research by Laura King and others has linked writing about a best possible self with improved positive mood and optimism. Carrillo and colleagues reviewed the research and found benefits for wellbeing, optimism, and positive feelings compared with control activities. These findings concern average changes across study participants; they do not promise that everyone will feel better after writing. The exercise can provide a structured opportunity to explore hope, while practical barriers, grief, and difficult feelings still deserve attention in their own right.

Writing matters more than just thinking. Putting the vision into concrete words forces detail and turns a vague hope into something specific you can move toward. Many people find that themes emerge as they write, the relationships, work, or qualities that keep coming up, which point to what matters most. The exercise ends by asking for one small step you could take this week toward that future, so the vision connects to action rather than staying on the page. If a pictured outcome depends on someone else changing, write down the part you can initiate and the support you would need if their response is different from what you hope.

Laura King introduced the writing exercise in research published in 2001. Later research by Sheldon and Lyubomirsky examined visualizing best possible selves and continued practice. The review by Carrillo and colleagues brings this research together, while noting limits in the evidence about longer-term effects. This interactive worksheet adapts the general practice for personal reflection; it does not reproduce a complete research protocol or establish a treatment dose. Use the writing as a starting point for reflection rather than a test you must complete correctly.

A common mistake is writing only about career or money. The exercise tends to work best when it covers several areas of life, relationships, health, personal growth, and daily rhythm, not just achievement. If you find yourself stuck, pick one area from the sections below and write about that alone before trying the fuller picture. Include the help, resources, and accommodations that would make that future possible. A meaningful future can include managing an ongoing condition or accepting limits.

If imagining a better future feels flat, distressing, or brings up more hopelessness than hope, that can be a sign that something more than a writing exercise is needed. A licensed therapist can help you work through what is making the future feel hard to picture. You can search the Psychology.com therapist directory to find one.

Read your completed writing for recurring priorities rather than treating it as a prediction. For example, a description of relaxed evenings with friends might point toward connection and rest. Use the Values Clarification Worksheet to name those priorities, then the Goal Setting Worksheet to describe an action you can realistically attempt. Separate your own actions from outcomes that depend on other people.

You can return to the exercise when your circumstances or priorities change. Keep any earlier version as a record of what mattered then, without judging yourself for changing direction. If imagining the future becomes self-criticism, pause and describe a supportive ordinary day instead. The Positive Psychology Worksheets collection offers other reflective practices, including activities focused on present experiences.

A Best Possible Self example might read: I finish work with enough energy to cook, stay in touch with people I care about, and ask for help when responsibilities pile up. I make room for rest and choose commitments that fit my capacity. Your version can be more specific about what you do, who supports you, and what a manageable day looks like. To turn this example into action, you could draft a request to discuss your workload or invite a friend to share a meal. Choose an action that fits the resources you have now.

Reviewed by Michael Callans, MSW
Reviewed the exercise for fidelity to the positive psychology research it is based on.

References

1. King LA. The health benefits of writing about life goals. Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2001;27(7):798-807.
2. Sheldon KM, Lyubomirsky S. How to increase and sustain positive emotion: the effects of expressing gratitude and visualizing best possible selves. J Posit Psychol. 2006;1(2):73-82.
3. Carrillo A, Rubio-Aparicio M, Molinari G, Enrique A, Sánchez-Meca J, Baños RM. Effects of the Best Possible Self intervention: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS ONE. 2019;14(9):e0222386. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0222386

Best Possible Self Exercise FAQ