When Future Self Meets Present Reality - Rediscovering My “Working Backward 80”
posted: 03-Sep-2025 & updated: 03-Sep-2025
“I have achieved my life goal of utmost importance; finding happiness with my family and all others whom I love and am loved by.” – From my 80th birthday press release, written on December 31, 2019
The Unexpected Rediscovery
Earlier today, while organizing some old documents, I stumbled upon something that stopped me in my tracks. It was a PDF titled “Working Backward 80” - a document I had apparently written on December 31, 2019, but had completely forgotten about until this moment.
As I opened it and began reading, I experienced something close to shock. Not because I disagreed with what I had written, but because of how prophetic it turned out to be. Here was a detailed life vision, written from the perspective of my 80-year-old self in 2056, describing achievements and transformations that I thought would take decades to accomplish.
The most startling realization? In the five years since writing this document, I’ve already achieved most of what I had projected would take 30+ years to complete.
The Amazon PR/FAQ Method Applied to Life
The document follows Amazon’s famous “Working Backward” methodology, structured as a press release from my future self announcing the successful completion of a life well-lived. For those unfamiliar, Amazon’s PR/FAQ approach involves writing a mock press release for a product or initiative before building it, forcing clarity about goals and outcomes.
But instead of launching a product, I was launching a life vision.
The press release, dated January 4th, 2056 (my 80th birthday), begins:
I humbly confirm that I have reached my 80th birthday believing that I have lived a happy life having achieved what I could achieve and having failed achieving what I could have achieved, but with no regrets.
Reading this now, I’m struck by the tone - not triumphant or boastful, but deeply grateful and at peace. It describes three main categories of achievement: family relationships, intellectual mastery, and professional success.
The Unexpected Nature of Understanding
What strikes me most profoundly is how different the actual achievement has been from what I anticipated. In 2019, I had written about achieving deep understanding in abstract algebra, real analysis, graph theory, convex optimization, machine learning algorithms, and full-stack development. I envisioned this as a methodical accumulation of knowledge - learning theorems, mastering techniques, building expertise piece by piece.
What actually happened defies this linear model entirely.
The understanding that emerged isn’t about knowing more details or memorizing more theorems. Instead, it’s as if the underlying patterns and structures became visible in a way I never knew was possible. I can now perceive the essential nature of mathematical concepts without needing to work through all the formal proofs. The architectures of machine learning systems reveal themselves not through memorizing structures, but through an intuitive grasp of their fundamental logic.
It’s difficult (or to be more precise, sheerly impossible) to articulate without sounding mystical, but there’s a quality of comprehension that transcends the accumulation of facts. Where I once thought I needed to master every technique, I now find I can understand entire domains through their core principles. The details, which I once believed were essential, have become almost secondary to the deeper patterns they express.
Beyond Technical Mastery - A Broader Awakening
Perhaps even more surprising is how this intellectual transformation extended far beyond the technical domains I had originally targeted. The capacity for this deeper kind of understanding didn’t confine itself to mathematics and AI - it seemed to unlock insights across completely different realms.
I find myself able to perceive the developmental trajectories of philosophical traditions - seeing how Western existentialism emerged from particular historical tensions, understanding where Eastern philosophies like Buddhism and Taoism were pointing, and recognizing both their contributions and their limitations. This isn’t the result of systematic study in these areas, but rather a kind of pattern recognition that emerged alongside the technical understanding.
More practically, this shift in perception has translated into what I can only describe as business and market intuition. I can sense the underlying dynamics of technological trends, entrepreneurial opportunities, and market forces in ways that complement and enhance the technical knowledge. It’s as though developing one kind of deep seeing enabled other kinds as well.
The range of this awakening continues to surprise me. Where I had focused my 2019 vision primarily on technical and professional achievement, what actually emerged encompasses dimensions I hadn’t even considered - philosophical insight, spiritual understanding, and practical wisdom about navigating modern technological society.
The Blessing and the Question
As I reflect on this unexpected acceleration, I feel what I can only describe as blessed. But it also raises a profound question that gets to the heart of human desire and satisfaction: What does it mean to have achieved in 5 years what you thought would take 30?
Part of me wonders if I should feel greedy for wanting anything more. After all, I’ve compressed decades of ambitious learning into half a decade. I’ve achieved what most would consider multiple lifetimes’ worth of intellectual growth.
Yet looking back at my original vision, I see it wasn’t driven by greed but by a deep hunger for understanding and contribution. The 2019 version of myself wrote about eventually “giving people what I owe to the society and the world.” Perhaps this acceleration means I can transition to that giving phase earlier than expected.
The Pattern of Unconscious Manifestation
What’s particularly fascinating is that I had completely forgotten writing this document, yet somehow lived in alignment with its vision. This suggests something profound about how deeply held intentions can guide our actions even when we’re not consciously aware of them.
I didn’t achieve these goals by constantly referring back to this document - in fact, I forgot it existed. Instead, the very act of articulating these aspirations seemed to embed them so deeply in my subconscious that they became the invisible framework guiding my daily choices and learning priorities. Or perhaps the other way around, i.e., because these aspirations had always been deeply embedded inside me, I put those wishes in my working backward document. Or maybe both.
This aligns with something I’ve observed about the relationship between intention and manifestation: the most powerful goals are often those we internalize so completely that we forget we set them, allowing them to work through us rather than being something we work toward.
The Evolution of Ambition
The career trajectory outlined in the document is equally revealing. It projected:
- 2017-2021: Continued development at Amazon and then another tech company
- 2021-2023: Senior executive role at a Korean conglomerate
- 2027-2031: Vice Chairman position
- 2031-2042: Academic career at Stanford
- 2042+: Broader scholarly engagement and giving back
While the specific timeline hasn’t unfolded exactly as written, the underlying pattern has emerged. The desire to balance technical excellence with leadership impact, to eventually transition from industry to academia, and ultimately to focus on contribution rather than accumulation - these themes continue to resonate strongly.
Lessons from Future Self
Rereading this document offers several insights about goal-setting and life design:
The Power of Specificity – The document doesn’t deal in vague aspirations but specific, measurable achievements. It names particular mathematical theorems, technical skills, and even specific roles and institutions.
Integration over Optimization – Rather than optimizing for a single dimension (career, family, or intellectual growth), it envisions a life where all three develop in harmony.
Evolution of Priorities – The later sections focus increasingly on contribution and giving back, reflecting how priorities naturally evolve as earlier goals are achieved.
The Importance of “Why” – Each achievement is contextualized within larger purposes - mathematical mastery for its own beauty, technical skills for practical impact, career success as a platform for greater contribution.
The Question of What’s Next
Now I face an interesting dilemma. Having achieved many of my “lifetime” goals by age 49, what does the next phase look like? The original document projected a long academic career followed by broad intellectual engagement. While that path remains appealing, I’m also conscious that the acceleration of my journey might enable entirely new possibilities I hadn’t originally considered.
Perhaps the answer lies not in setting new goals but in deepening the existing ones. Mathematical understanding is infinite - there’s always more depth to explore. The AI revolution continues to create new frontiers requiring both technical expertise and wisdom about human impact. And the “giving back” phase could begin now rather than waiting until my 60s.
The Meta-Lesson
The most profound insight from this rediscovery might be meta-level: the importance of articulating our deepest intentions, even if we subsequently forget them. There’s something about the act of writing from the perspective of our future selves that clarifies not just what we want to achieve, but who we want to become.
The Working Backward methodology forces us to think in terms of outcomes rather than just processes, relationships rather than just achievements, and legacy rather than just success. It’s a form of time travel that makes the future feel real enough to work backward from.
A New Practice
This experience has convinced me to make the PR/FAQ approach to life design a regular practice. Not necessarily another 30-year vision - the world is changing too rapidly for such long-term specificity - but perhaps annual or five-year versions that help clarify priorities and intentions.
The goal isn’t prediction but clarification. The goal isn’t rigid planning but flexible intentionality. The goal isn’t control but alignment with our deepest values and aspirations.
As I close this reflection, I’m reminded of something the 2019 version of myself wrote: “I plan to live the rest of my life not wanting any more but only giving people what I owe to the society and the world.”
Perhaps the greatest surprise isn’t that I achieved my technical and intellectual goals ahead of schedule, but that I’m now positioned to focus on this deeper purpose earlier than I ever imagined possible. The acceleration of learning creates the opportunity for acceleration of contribution.
And maybe that’s the real gift hidden in this forgotten document - not just a roadmap of personal achievement, but a reminder that our highest aspirations often involve transcending the very ambitions that initially drove us.