Creating and maintaining the kind of habits that will benefit you in the long-term can be a challenge. One of them is to "write a letter to your future self," he told podcast host Bob Safian. "The research shows that it's not about receiving that letter but it's actually about writing that letter that changes how you think about yourself and your role in future shaping." Writing a letter to your future self "helps people concentrate on their goals," says Gail Purvis, clinician in private practice and at Weill Cornell Medicine's department of psychiatry. That's because "putting pen to paper … emphasizes the importance of thinking about your future and what you want," she says.

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Persons: who'd, Ari Wallach, Bob Safian, Gail Purvis Organizations: Pew Research, Weill Cornell Medicine's