Your five-year plan can also be a fantastic motivational tool. Something that you can look at when you need a reminder of how far you’ve come. Or when you feel like you’ve lost your way and need something to help you get back to it. Your five-year plan can help you to stay focused. It can boost your business. It can stop you from getting distracted or wasting time.
Five years is a long time. Ask yourself what has changed in the last five years. You might find it hard to work out. We change a lot in five years. You might have a different job or a different house. You might even have a different family situation. But, it’s more than that. You aren’t the same. You’ve grown and developed. You’ve learned new things and meet new people. You don’t think or feel the same. Within all of these changes, it’s easy to get bogged down in the mundane day to day details of life. Your five-year plan helps to stop this. It gives you focus and support. It helps you to say no to things that won’t help you to meet your goals, and it helps you to hit your targets.
Let’s take a look at some of the areas that your five-year plan should focus on, and some ideas of what to include.
Career
When it comes to your career, five years is a long time. If you wanted, it’s long enough to start your own business and build it up. It’s long enough to start a career change. Or, it’s long enough to gain a big promotion.Think about where you are right now. Are you happy in your job and keen to move it forward? If you already own your own business, do you feel as though it’s on the right path or do you want to make some significant changes? Ask yourself where you want to be, what you want to change, what you want to carry forward and what help you need and add it all to your plan.
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Social
As we get older, our social life becomes more difficult to maintain. When you are young, without responsibilities, the idea of planning your social life is unnecessary. But, then you start to lose touch with old friends, you drift apart, and life can become lonely.Do you want to reconnect with old friends? Arrange a reunion? Meet new people? Add social targets to your plan, and you are more likely to stick to them.
Home
Home is often a big part of our personal five-year plans. Think about your living situation at the moment, and where you see yourself in five years. Do you want to buy a house? Or pay off your mortgage? Would you just like to find a more suitable rental? Or, do you have home improvements you’d like to tackle?Whatever your home goals, you might want to think about adding a budget to your plan to help you achieve them.
Family
Family is a massive part of your happiness and shouldn’t be neglected in your plans. Are you happy? Would you like to get married or have children? Do you want to find the right school for your kids? Or take some important family vacations? Would you just like to spend more time enjoying your family and all of its extensions? Write a list of all of your big family goals for the next few years.Income
Your income and financial goals might fit in with your career. Or, they might need their own section. Do you need a five-year debt repayment plan or savings target? Do you want to find ways outside of your career to earn money? To give yourself a side income.Health and Fitness
Most of us make short health and fitness targets. You might want to lose a few pounds before a trip or improve your fitness for an event. Then, when we reach these milestones, we go back to normal. Set yourself some five-year targets and you’ll have more chance of keeping on the right path and making more significant improvements to your health and fitness.Hobbies
Do you have hobbies? Do you give them enough time? Hobbies give you a great chance to relax and unwind. But, when we’re busy, they often get forgotten. Plan to try new things, or to spend more time doing the things that you love.Of course, your five-year plan is completely personal to you. We’re all different. We all have different goals and ambitions. Above all, we all have different things that make us happy. Your five-year plan should focus on where you want to be in five years. You should have a big picture in mind, and everything that you include should help you get there.
While planning is excellent, so is flexibility. Your five-year plan should help you. If at any point it’s not or you realise that you want to move in an entirely different direction, don’t be afraid to pivot. Rip up the plan and make a new one. Don’t feel governed by it, and don’t be scared to make bold changes when you need to.
