How do you feel about your 5 year plan? Don’t have one? Terrified of the thought? If so, you’re not alone.
Many folks in the 25-35 year age bracket (i.e. this blog’s main readership) seem to shudder of the thought of a 5 year plan. It reminds us that we’ll be 5 years older in only 5 years. That’s far too soon. We don’t even want to think about being that old. But that’s a mistake.
I think a better starting question is: where do you want to be in 5 years? It’s more exciting to frame the idea from the perspective of ambition than age. It’s more fun to think that in 5 years you want to be partner, father, homeowner, etc, than just 5 years older. And I think it’s more than exciting to do this - it’s crucial. So many of us bounce around between opportunities and options, without understanding how these fit into a constructive path that gets us to where we want to be. So where do you want to be in 5 years? Figure it out.
Here are some thoughts along the way:
- Be specific. Break down those goals. Want to buy a house within 5 years? How much will you have to save per month? Want to make a career transition? Where? What are the key organizations working in your target space?
- Be flexible. Chances are slim that you’ll end up exactly where you chose in 5 years. Opportunities come up. Motivations change. That’s cool, just be realistic with yourself, and adjust your plan accordingly.
- Trust your gut. Push yourself to make decisions, not before you’re ready but without becoming indecisive for the sake of being indecisive. Actively search out information that may affect your choices.
- Tell somebody. Or everybody. Start here, in the comments if you wish. Telling someone about your goals increases the chances that you’ll deliver on them.
I’m not an expert at 5 year plans. I’m just finishing my current one. This included working my way out of engineering into something with more control, high-level perspective, and potential for impact. I knew it would involve Cambridge, but not the MBA, which came along mid-plan. It involved buying a house, which happened, and a family, which hasn’t yet. Well, maybe not a family, but getting close. It didn’t happen exactly as I’d planned, but that wasn’t the point. The next 5 year plan? It’s just developing now.
I think we should embrace aging (growing?), and look closer at where we want to be down the road. Have a 5 year plan yourself? Feel free to share it. Don’t have one? Consider making one.
B
(shot: Liam at the Erickson house)
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey B,
I appreciate this post. I think I have a different perspective on all this than you. While I think having goals is important, I think the focus on end points is only helpful to a point. But I’m also not advocating for a cliched ‘live in the moment’ approach. In my experience, what has made me feel most content is to hold on to a set of ‘virtues’ that, while adaptable, help ground my choices in life. I do not need to believe in or seek out a particular end point so long as I am satisfied that I am maintaining my integrity, being open minded, exploring new things and ways of thinking, and making choices that I believe in.
I think being or feeling aimless is less about not having goals, and more about being unclear or confused about what matters. We can all lapse into a Beckettian waiting and sense of purposelessness, but that’s because absolutized goals almost never work at creating meaning. Meaning is created through choices as such, and not just what comes to be as a result of those choices. Take time to consider how you want to utilize the freedom of your will to express meaning in the world, and I think the fundamental importance of the act of choosing will become so much more clear.
Shea
[Reply]
Brendan Reply:
January 19th, 2010 at 11:26 pm
Wonderful reply.
Why would you use virtues instead of values?
B
[Reply]
Good, provocative (in the sense of provoking thought) post. I agree very much with “trust your gut”. I have found in the past that the way to make the really important decisions is to not over-analyse them. Somewhere deep down, I believe, you have probably already made the decision. Wait (if you can) and let that develop and bubble to the surface. You’ll know when it does.
And the 5-year plan. I used a 10-year index. I made big changes when I asked myself this: “I’m perfectly happy doing what I’m doing now, but will I want to do this when I’m ____ years old?” That’s a different (and maybe harsh) perspective, but it works. To make the changes you have to do that.
And big goals are rarely achieved with big steps: takes lots of little ones, incrementally getting there. That’s where maturity and experience come in: staying the course.
[Reply]
Don’t know if it was on purpose, but the shot of Li is perfect: he’s the only person I know who has had a 5-year plan well-laid out and mostly achieved. For the last 5 years. And of course his pensive pose is good too.
love,
-t
(Tofino without your posse, for the first time this weekend!)
[Reply]
Like the post, but it doesn’t work for me. I shudder at the 5-year-plan deal. Closer to Shea’s response - I’d rather have values and intentions to guide me than a list of accomplishments to cross off. But lots of congrats for finding something that works for you!
[Reply]
Brendan Reply:
January 19th, 2010 at 11:33 pm
Hmmm, I don’t see it as a list of accomplishments. More achievement of goals. I feel there’s a difference.
Maybe it’s the engineer or development-type in me that wants tangible targets, or at least used them as examples. Conversations that led to this were mostly career-oriented, whereas the post is more general, so maybe that explains it too. In one of the conversations I had that led to this post, my friend gave several non-accomplishments which made quite a lot of sense. Certainly ‘who do I want to be’ is more fundamental than ‘what do I want to have done’. But sometimes the latter helps trigger near-term steps better.
I think the basic gap I’m trying to tackle is some of our (mine included) tendency to under think our future, and the path to get there. Whether that works for everyone is a totally different matter.
Thanks Laura,
B
[Reply]
I think that having a plan is about achieving goals but it is also about having clarity.
I know what I am interested in and that I am drawn to certain types of jobs, people, and activities - this is a reflection my values and beliefs. It is also a reflection that I have the opportunity to live my life with a great degree of choice. Choices I am grateful for.
Having said that, I often feel pushed by all these choices. I can become driven by what I ‘want’ rather than really being honest about what it is I ‘need’ to be happy. Being successful may be important you and it may mean different things - it may be earning a certain kind of income or writing a great piece of research or starting your own social enterprise - and it is governed and achieved by what you would determine are your values. The same with what kind of relationships you want to have or the kind of activities you invest your time in. So many choices.
I think it is important to govern your life by your values (afterall, they are part of your identity and they act as a road map of sorts)…However, if you are still living in (or returning to) a place of vast opportunity, like Canada, if you have access to money or credit, if you are educated and can go anywhere to be educated, if you get to travel, do interships, if you can make donations to anything you like, if you can choose from 23 different kinds of organic salad dressing….I think sometimes you need to step back and think about what you want to achieve in the next 5 years and then ask yourself what out of that plan is actually what you ‘need’ to make you happy and why? I am not sure how often we actually ask ourselves that question but I do think it is one way to keep our integrity.
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