#282 Sending yourself emails to do stuff in the future

Neil Pasricha

It’s good getting along with Future You.

Whether it’s all-caps screaming to pick up the milk, terse finger-wagging reminding you to hit the gym, or polite memos to your Work Self to staple that important pamphlet tomorrow, well the point is that you’re making plans and pledging to get the job done.

And there are variations on the theme such as The Time-Delayed Send, The Bizarro Self Voicemail, or the classic 10 Exclamation Mark Surprise.

You have one new message.

AWESOME!

Photo from: here

66 thoughts to “#282 Sending yourself emails to do stuff in the future”

  1. I have to do this all the time…NOTE TO SELF…REMEMBER TO…with the classic exclamation marks for sure!!!!!!!!!!

  3. Almost every evening/weekend, I send myself at least one email from one of my non-work accounts to my work account. Then that next morning it’s like BAM! Oh, yeah, I need to ______. I send attachments, lists, reminders, etc. It’s a whole lot easier than trying to keep up between home and work with a list written on a sticky-note!

    1. I always lose the paper I wrote on. I use to be able to remember just about anything, as long as I wrote it down. Didn’t matter if I still had the thing I wrote it on or not, but my memory isn’t that good anymore.

        2. I just set up a reminder for my bff on this site to tell me happy birthday this year. My birthday is on June 13 and 2 years ago she told me happy birthday on July 13
          This is another great site that I have just added into my favorites

  5. I sent myself a message in 15 years. Yes. I am that awesome. I randomly found this site the other day: http://futureme.org/

    This might have just inspired me to write for every year up to 15 years from now…..haha, something to do. =)

      1. agreed !!!!!
        thanx for the link.. it really is useful.. id love to send myself an email to surprise me in later future.. :)

        1. Wrote out this huge long email for myself 5 years from today and at the end I reminded myself to write another one.

    2. Who comes up with this incredibly creative stuff?! I love it! I will definitely do this…I’m in midlife at an important juncture in education/work/relationships, so it’s the perfect time to write such a futureme email! Thanks for the link!

      1. It is the most incredible thing, receiving an actual letter (versus a reminder) from your past self. In the world before Futureme.org, I always sent myself a postcard/aerogramme every time I was at a random location. The fun part is, they usually get lost in the mail (well, I DO send them from random and obscure locations around the globe) and then they arrive when you’ve forgotten :)

    1. Yeah, me too! I love doing this! And I sometimes also send e-mails to future me in a year or so. It was just great to get an e-mail from 16-years old me when I turned 18 two years ago. I had totally forgot even sending it! I might have one or two e-mails waiting to be sent right now, but I’m not sure.
      But it’s almos as awesome to find some note-to-self waiting in your personal/work e-mail.

  7. You know what I read everything in this stupid blog and what I think is tht there is nothing awesome about life.Its just a shit place where you have to survive and nobody cares where you go or what you do.

    1. Then make up your own stuff.
      Oh, and NOTHING is awesome.
      Yes, there has to be something.
      I doubt that you NEVER smiled.
      If you smiled, that is awesome, therefore there is awesome stuff in life,

        1. There is always someone who cares! Even if it doesn’t feel like it.
          :) Hope you are feeling better today.

          1. Yeah I am, I owe so much to this blog and yes there are people who care we just fail to understand that they really do and the others who don’t are not worth your friendship

            1. you got that right…Dance in the light of life and the light will shine bright…read Nelson Mandella’s inaugural speech, “Glory og God within you”…and stay here in Awesome Land too, look how many people extended they care right here and now…you can’t help but feel better:D

  8. Hmmm … never thought of this. But I’ll certainly apply this slightly multi-personality like method in the future. Every once in a while my lazy and absentminded self needs to be reminded by my responsible self to move its arse!! :P

  9. So glad to know I’m not the only one! Man, this website’s like group therapy sometimes. ;)

  11. We are constantly communicating with our future selves. If you are in debt, you are borrowing from future you. If you are saving, you are giving a gift to future you. If you write a note, you are giving information or reminders to future you. Doing drugs can hurt future you, while reading a book and educating yourself is helping future you.
    The key to life is achieving a balance in all things, so that present you and future you can look back on past you and smile.

  12. I send emails to my work email from my phone when I’m home and I think of something really important………or really silly to remember.
    But if I’m in my car on my way to work and I remember something, I’ll write it on my hand while I’m stuck at a red light.

    1. I don’t think I would have gotten through college without writing reminders on my hand. I always had a palm full of reminders.

  13. After reading this I sent myself an email reminder because I rarely open my agenda to look at my written reminders when I get home from school. Starting tomorrow, I shall be paperless no more!

  16. I have a continuous email thread with myself. It sounds weird, but it is a no fail way to get everything done. I get excited when I see I have a new email, so I open it and then I remember what I was supposed to do.

  19. btw: Just got a chance to read the first 20 pages of “Even More”.. totally awesome.. when are you going to put up the next 300 so I can read those and cancel all those pre-orders?

    Ha! Just kidding.. I’m not sure that a printed out PDF held together with paper clips and bubble gum will as good of a gift as all my shiny new metalic Even More Awesome pre-ordered books, complete with autographed book plate and magnets!

    (Not to mention my signed copy of “#806: Ducks”!)

  20. I never thought to do this before! Geez, here’s this great, whole new method of communicating with myself and I was in the dark! Thanks for an AWESOME idea! Another reason to love 1000 Awesome Things: Fantastic ideas! Jumping onto my email and sending myself a fun electronic missive, something that’ll give me a smile in a year or two. :)

    1. Neither did I! Maybe that will help me stop forgetting so many things! I do save photos and files in a draft email when I run out of space on my memory stick, or forgot to bring one because I didn’t email myself a reminder to do so.

  21. I always thought that if something was important enough, then I would remember it. That is VERY false.

    I’m not even joking… I emailed myself a reminder to comment on this post. I have been doing this for YEARS!! I currently have about 1500 emails of thoughts and inspirations that I have had over the past decade and I thank god for technology. It doesn’t make stupid people smarter, but its make being smart easier. Lil Wayne said “I think about more than I forget”. I write myself emails constantly so I don’t have to.

  23. I have actually emailed myself the following:

    DON’T EAT THOSE G-DAMNED MALTED MILK BALLS THIS AFTERNOON WHEN YOURE JONESING FOR THEM!!!! REALLY! STOP EATING!

    1. LOL! And this is the exact moment when you realize that you have become your mother. ;)

  24. I love getting voicemails and e-mails from myself — especially when I have forgotten who I’m calling and I say thank you to myself or okay, talk to you later. Classic!

    1. That is so definitely me! Post-it queen…I keep that company in business! I tried to stick them on my steering wheel or on the dash, but they never stick. So, while I plaster my work space and home in post-its, I keep a pocket-sized notebook on the passenger seat of my car and I just list notes on there when I’m at a stop sign or red light.

  29. As soon as I read the title to this one I laughed out loud. I either send myself an e-mail or text, or write on my arm. Only way to remember anything.

  31. Pingback: #282: Sending yourself emails to do stuff in the future | 1 Thousand Awesome Things

  32. Long time reader, first time commenter.

    Okay, not trying to spam, seriously, but check out FollowUpThen. The ultimate way to email yourself.

  34. I DO THIS ALL THE TIME.
    I work on several different computers…you know, work, class, internship, the library, personal laptop…so I am always emailing myself work I’ve done in various places, along with notes of what to finish or do. When I’m in class sometimes I even email myself to-do lists.

  35. Pingback: #282 Sending yourself emails to do stuff in the future (via 1000 Awesome Things) | My Bit of Happiness
  36. Pingback: Practice Improvement » Sending a Reminder to Your Future Self – MsgMe.at
  37. Pingback: LemLink » Sending a Reminder to Your Future Self – MsgMe.at

  38. I do at least 2 times a day and everytime I do it, I think to myself…….. how dumb am I that I have to do this just so I will remember to do something…….. I will never think of this as being dumb again!! It is AWESOME!!!!

  39. I text myself reminders and cool stuff and whatnot. It’s funny though because sometimes I’ll get the text and for a second think that someone actually texted me and get all excited and then remember that it’s just my text to myself about remembering to get milk or call the school. Just remember not to open the text when you first get it so the new text reminder is there when you actually need to look at it. Usually just the new text notification thing is enough to remind me about what I needed to do.

    Also, I’m so excited to be caught up on this blog! Actually I think I still have to go 100 or so further back (I think I stumbled upon something in the 300s and went backwards and just tonight got to 1000 but now I need to go back to that point.)

  41. When click here an insurance surveyor comes along, he may end up paying a lot
    more strength successful air conditioners and h2o heaters.

    How Much Do Electricians MakeThese can vary determined by qualifications and past experiences gained and are usually
    present in dark crevices. Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and one year of experience means that every electric electrical wiring employment features a touch associated
    with professionalism; this can be achieved through SEO.

Comments are closed.