My Yearly Birthday Ritual

I do this every year on November 19

The email below is one I send out every year. It includes my yearly birthday ritual. Sharing it once again because a lot of people have implemented it on their own birthdays. And enjoyed the magic it opened up. So apply it if it resonates and disregard if it doesn’t. Cheers and see you tomorrow!

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Every birthday I sit down and write a letter to myself.

This letter documents where I’m at, the last 12 months gone by, what life looks like, what’s going right, what’s going wrong, and so on.

Then I conclude the letter by writing out the story of the UPCOMING 12 months in crystal clear detail…

… as if it’s already done (covering every area of life/including BIG intentions and dreams all written in the past/present tense).

Then I toss the letter into an envelope, date it, and never look at it again...

… until 12 months later (next birthday)

During this birthday, I open the previous year’s letter, read it and see how close (or how far) I’ve come to creating a reality that matches the ‘script’ I wrote out a year ago.

Not everything I write comes to fruition within a year (sometimes it takes a couple of years), but so much magic occurs as a result of running this simple exercise (and it usually happens in the most unexpected of ways).

PLUS:

I stay motivated throughout the year because I know the next birthday will soon arrive and I’ll have to open and read the ‘script’ from the prior year and I want to make sure I make myself proud.

So urgency is built into this system. (Nothing worse than opening up a letter on your birthday and realizing none of the shit you wrote down came to life because you failed to stay consistent. I’ve definitely had years like that and it wasn’t pretty. But at least I got a wake up call as my birthday present lol which may actually be the best gift one could ever get).

In addition, you’re also in a way writing out your autobiography because you’re documenting each year…

… and all the highs and lows that it brought.

Nothing better than having a documented record of exactly how you spent your years, what you did, what you learned, how you grew, and what magic you brought into the world.

So if this activity speaks to you, then I highly recommend that you give it a go whenever your birthday is and turn it into a lifelong habit.

If you do, I know for a fact that you’re going to be absolutely amazed at the magic it brings into your life!

Well, that’s all for me today.

I’m off to opening up the envelope from 12 months ago and seeing what delight (or horror) awaits me haha.

Thanks for reading!

Appreciate you more than you’ll ever know.

Your friend,

/tej

P.S. Best birthday gift you could ever give yourself is to read the script/letter you wrote 12 months ago and think:

“Fack! This is exactly my life now!”

Or

“Holy! My life is even CRAZIER and better than what I had scripted!” (this happens a lot!)

Both those thoughts and the feelings that come with them are the best gifts you could ever give yourself, so get to scripting and acting, my friend because like I Tweeted in the past:

Ditch the old roles and invent a new one on each birthday to make your life the greatest movie ever made! :-)

P.P.S. I think I originally got the idea for this exercise from the copywriter John Carlton. So shout out him!