Do you have a 5 year plan - if not, why not?

byGail-UK

3.1K followers

5 years ago

It's funny the way things happen, isn't it?

I was sitting with a cup of coffee earlier today, doing my usual thing that I do at this time of year and pondering what has happened in the last year, how it has affected me, what I've achieved, what I haven't, the new people I've met, and the ones I've let slip out of my life for whatever reason.

Now that's quite a lot of brain power for one short coffee break, but I was a part way through the 'what's happened in the last year' part, when I it struck me that I was, as of today, 3 years and 9 months through my 5-year plan, give or take a few days. And as a result, my whole focus changed.

Things started falling into place, like pennies in a slot machine, and I was taken back to my birthday (which is in March), 2015. I remember clearly sitting myself down to have one of those 'grown-up talks' with myself.

For at that time, I felt that I had lost my way a little.......no, let's be honest - I had lost my way a lot. Things were not going so well with my work situation, My business had failed and I had left a relationship situation that was not good. Although I had been teaching for 20+ years in my own school, I found that I could not even get an interview in the 'real education world' because I did not have a PGCE; I could not make ends meet each month comfortably (not even uncomfortably) and I no longer recognised the person who stared back at me in the morning when I looked in the mirror.

Something had to change.

I didn't have all the answers, I still don't. But my life coaching and NLP experience told me that if I wanted things to change in my life, then I would need to do something different. I could not continue along the same path, doing the same things and expect to get different results.

The thing that had to change first, was ME!

I knew enough about motivations, goals and change to understand that I needed to set myself several goals: short-term, mid-term and long-term goals, and so I set about typing these up to set them into a firmer footing with the universe. (Writing things down increases the chances of you achieving them - becoming accountable to others, increases this further).

I started with my 5-year goals and asked myself where I wanted to be ;5 years from that day.

It wasn't as easy as I might have thought. I knew what I didn't want; boy, did I know that! I didn't want to be living from hand-to-mouth each month; I didn't want to have a business that was failing and I no longer wanted to feel that I had no skills and was good at noghing! I was in a pretty dark place.

But the thing about knowing what you don't want (as Esther Hicks would say) is that, "when you know what you DON'T want, you know what you DO want". So pretty soon, I began noting down things I would like to have in my life in 5 years time. Just thinking about them made me smile.

At first, it was difficult to see myself in a new house, with plenty of space and room to breathe; driving a car that was closer to its birth than its retirement; and having the money in my purse to last to the end of the month. Harder still was visualising myself as happy with myself again and with the choices I had made. But I persevered. I made a list and to be honest I had no idea how I was going to make it come true - it really seemed like a 'wish-list' to me at that time.

I also had faith in the universe (as I call it), and the process I was undertaking. I knew that if I could change my thinking, I could change anything, so I started with that.

I worked backwards from my seemingly out-of-reach, long-term, 5-year goals, and worked on my mid-term goals, and finally my short-term goals, which at that time, went something like:

1) Get up in the morning and get the girls to school on time

2) Make sure there is enough money to buy food and have enough for petrol too.

3) Try to increase your income.

Not very SMART goals, and therefore not all that specific or effective.

I re-read them, then re-wrote them until I came up with some specific, measurable goals in the short and mid-term. My long-term goals still seemed like a fairy story to me, but I went along with them in spite of this.

My short-term goals suddenly became achievable with some effort, I might add - "research and apply for PGCE courses" was one. "Find another part-time job to ease immediate the financial strain" was another.

And within a month, I had achieved both. So I looked further ahead and set some new goals.

Now I'm not going to bore you and go through all the goals I set myself and what happened but the principle is the same - I set some short-term goals and worked on those; reviewed them regularly and set others.

Now, (three and three-quarter years on) I am reviewing my progress. And I am very, very pleasantly surprised.

In that time, I have:

• Gained my PGCE certificate
• Graduated as a qualified teacher
• Worked in a secondary school, gaining experience and money!
  
• Doubled my income
• Been offered 2 jobs 'out of the blue' that I love
• Found Wealthy Affiliate
• Realised what I'm good at
• Worked out who I really am again and am HAPPY.

AND, I still have 15 months to go on my 5-year plan.

What I found was that by focusing on the small steps I could take in the short-term, I (almost unwittingly), moved myself gradually closer to my ultimate goal.

Looking back now, I see that the decisions I made were good ones, based on where I started out and where I wanted to be.

And it's working.

I'm looking forward to what I can achieve in 2019 and I urge you to set yourself some short, mid and long-term goals this year to see what you can achieve too.

Write your own 5-year plan!

Your goals and plans may not all be related to Wealthy Affiliate - that doesn't matter. Mine are varied and cover finances, health, family, spirituality, relationships and my career as well.

I still have some way to go on many of the goals but I'm MAKING PROGRESS, SLOWLY AND STEADILY, and that FEELS GOOD!

But the process of writing down goals and reviewing them works, so don't underestimate the time spent on thinking ahead.

I wish you all well in your endeavours. This next 15 months for me is going to be awesome and I hope and pray for the same for you!

Gail

So go on - DARE TO DREAM YOUR BEST DREAMS and then SET ABOUT ACHIEVING THEM!