How to Write a Five Year Plan

A five-year plan is a great tool for helping you achieve your goals. It can help you decide what's most important to you, as well as give you structure and focus. Here's how to write one:

Identify your goals.

Before you start writing your plan, you need to make sure you have specific goals in mind. A good goal is something that has a clear path of how it will be achieved and has a date by which the goal will be accomplished. Here are some examples of good goals:

• A student wants to become proficient in Spanish by studying with a tutor for 30 minutes per day for 10 weeks.
• An athlete wants to increase their vertical jump by completing 30 minutes of plyometric exercises every day for 10 weeks.
• A business owner wants increased sales from Google AdWords campaigns by producing more relevant advertising content and increasing keyword bids over time so that they reach an average targeted cost-per-click (CPC) of $10 or less per click by December 31st 2020.

Make a list of the obstacles that prevent you from achieving your goals.

• Make a list of the obstacles that prevent you from achieving your goals. This may include health issues, financial limitations, lack of experience, or other barriers.
• Ask yourself: How can I get what I need to overcome these obstacles? Can they be addressed internally (through better habits, and education) or externally (through tools and resources)?

Think realistically and objectively about what motivates you.

One of the most important things for achieving your goals is motivation. Motivation comes from within yourself, but it can also be external. For example, if you’re trying to lose weight in order to feel healthier and look better, this may be an internal motivator (you want to improve your health). However, if you want to lose weight because you want people on social networks or at work to think that they are “throwing down” by following your journey, then this is an external motivator; that is how other people will see it.

Whether your motivation comes from internal or external sources (or both), it should be clear why what you want is important enough for you to take action towards achieving those goals.

Break down each goal into smaller steps.

Now that you have your big goals, it's time to break them down into smaller steps. Each step should be a clear action and measurable result, with a deadline for completion. The goal is to achieve the end result, not just take the steps—so make sure each one is directly related to moving toward your ultimate goal. In other words: don't just say "I want to go backpacking in Europe." Say "I will save $1,000 by December 1st; then I will book my flight on January 1st."

You may find it helpful at this stage of the process if you write out all the steps on paper so they're visible and organized in front of you as you work through them (or keep them saved as an outline).

Set deadlines for each goal.

• Set deadlines for each goal. This is how you make your five-year plan come to life, and it's important that you don't miss any of them. You can use a calendar or an app like Google Calendar or Sunrise to help you schedule out events in advance, but if you prefer pen-and-paper, there are also plenty of options for that as well! For example, one popular method involves creating a table with rows for each month and columns for the days during that month. As each goal is completed (or failed), fill in its corresponding box on the table with either a checkmark or an X so that it's easy to see at a glance when things got done.
• Make sure you meet your deadlines! It's tempting to get ahead of yourself and overestimate how much time it takes something—especially when we're excited about our ideas—but remember: being too ambitious can lead to disappointment later down the line if things don't go according as expected; so try not to set unreasonable goals. If something seems particularly challenging or unlikely given what little knowledge we have about ourselves today (e.g., finishing an entire novel within six months), then perhaps consider revising its deadline before making plans based solely off what seems "reasonable" without taking into account any potentially unforeseen complications along the way...

Make sure each step has clear action and measurable results.

Now that you have your goal in mind, it's time to write down the steps you'll need to take to get there.

Here are some tips for making sure each step is clear:

• Make sure each step has clear action and measurable results. If something doesn’t feel like an actionable step, change it. For example, instead of “I will start running more often,” say “I will go for a jog five times a week.”
• Don't worry about what other people's goals are; focus on what works best for you and your lifestyle (and if someone else does better at meeting their goals than you do yours—well then maybe that person should be writing this article). You're not going to set huge goals if all of these things don't work together, but even small changes can make a big difference in your life!

Make a list of people who can help you achieve your goals.

Think about the people who are most likely to be able to help you. These should not be family members, but rather friends or acquaintances. They should be well qualified for their job and have the time to devote to helping you achieve your goals. It's important that the person you ask has a specific skill-set (e.g., legal expertise) that can lend itself toward your success in accomplishing your goal(s).

Assess your current position.

Assess your current position. For this exercise, you need to assess your situation and current situation as it relates to what you want and what you have. The goal here is not just for you to identify your strengths, weaknesses and resources, but also opportunities and threats.

The goal is not simply to identify these things; the goal is for them all to connect with each other in some way.

Your five-year plan should give you a realistic path to the life you want to live

Making a plan is important. In fact, if you’re planning to live your life in any way at all, it’s crucial that you make a plan and stick to it.

Don’t be afraid to make a plan. You might think that other people will laugh at you for making one—but they won't! If anything, most people wish they were able to make plans for themselves and their lives as confidently as you are about yours. You can also rest assured that the people who say things like “I let life take me where it will, because I know things will work out on their own anyway” are lying through their teeth (and probably don't really believe what they're saying).

So here's my advice: just go ahead and write down everything that comes into your head while reading this article—even if some of it seems crazy or impossible right now—and then just get started! Don't worry about what else might come up along the way; just do whatever needs doing next so we can keep moving forward with our lives together!

Conclusion

Writing a five-year plan can be an exciting exercise. It forces you to look at your life, identify what’s important, and define the steps needed to get there. Maybe you will create a business plan that helps guide your company’s growth or maybe it will be a personal goal to quit smoking or get in shape. Whatever it is, writing out your goals in detail can help make them happen!