What are you going to be doing five years from now?

I think this is what we should ask kids instead of, “What do you want to be when you grow up.” Not only is it less pressure than asking a child what they want to do forever-and-ever (no pressure, kid!) There is also the added bonus of starting a habit that can last and be continuously helpful throughout life.

You have to make a plan to work a plan
For little ones (and adults) it can be difficult to plan so far out that time becomes more of an abstract theory than a date that’s coming up in the future. When you plan one-three-or even five years out, that’s something you can wrap your brain around.

The feeling of overwhelm can crush dreams fast – and having a 20-year plan is fine, but if you’re always following a plan that goes so far out, you can experience burnout much faster than having a goal that isn’t so far away. Very successful people that followed a 20-year plan had smaller plans and goals on the way to that 20-year mark – you should too!

What will you be doing?
I can’t tell you what you will be doing, but I can tell you it will probably not be what you thought you’d do when you were in grade school or even high school. A five year plan can keep you from becoming discouraged if the road to your “big huge end game plan” has more twists and turns in it than you anticipated. Five year plans keep you from saying, “I’ll never be able to…” (or will at least help you say it less!)

If you’re not doing what you want to be now, decide what you would like to see yourself doing in five years. Do you want to change careers? Other than the lawyer/doctor angle that takes years upon years of schooling, you can reinvent yourself entirely in five years! As for the doctor and lawyer dreams…there are very rewarding careers that require less schooling and could get you a step closer to where you want to be in less than five years. You can become a paralegal or legal secretary in five years, and you can become a medical tech in five years too. A step in the right direction!

Factor in the networking
Who will you need to know to get where you want to be in five years? A literary agent? A CEO mentor that will give you some advice? When you give yourself a plan that goes out five years, you have plenty of time to make connections and meet new people that might either be the person you need to know, or they might know the person you need to know. Either way, knowing the people that are important to your plans will help you out a great deal, so don’t feel strange about making a list of people you want to get to know.