Planning Ahead
Making your 5 Year Plan!
By: Lara Hudson
Have you ever thought – I wonder where I will be in 5 years time?
Many view planning for the future a challenge – often just planning day to day can be hard enough! However, it can be
an excellent opportunity to reflect and really take time to identify where you want to go, what you will need to get
there, and indeed what will be manageable steps to take. I like to view five-year plans as a map, you are start your
journey now and plan where you want to go, including personal goals and dreams you wish to achieve and experience
along the way. The best part is that you are completely in control - the future is in your hands and it’s up to you to
design it.
Perhaps you are looking for promotion within your company or maybe you want another career altogether - planning
what your next five years will look like gives you an end goal to aim for. As you decide on your career goals for the next
five years, taking your skills, interests and education into consideration will help you set realistic, achievable goals that
you can be proud of.
You need to start by jotting down a list of the things, that you feel are important to you and the things that you want to
accomplish. Decide what is your end goal and then work backwards to determine manageable steps that you would
need to take to achieve your goal.
Start by identifying your ‘end goal’ – what is it that you ultimately wish to achieve. Every goal
that you set for yourself will be made up of smaller, manageable goals. Start to envisage
what your life will be like in five years’ time – you need to consider this in terms of
both career and home/ family life.
Write your goals down – we have included a downloadable 5 year plan template
to help with this!
As you start to write your plan, think about the qualifications, skills and
talents that you currently have and see how these support your five year
plan. You also need to start thinking about any gaps that you have in
qualifications or skills. What is it that you need to do or acquire to support
your plan? Perhaps you wish to move into a management role, but you
need to learn how to write policies and procedures that are robust –
then a policies and procedures CPD can help with this.
Once you have an idea of what you want to achieve, you need to then start
breaking this down into smaller, more manageable goals. To achieve your
dream in 5 years, you need to start acting now and you need to clearly
define what must be done. Give yourself realistic timelines and dead
lines to complete each stage and carry out research to ensure that
the timelines you set are accurate and attainable. You may wish to
find a ‘mentor’ who can help provide support and encouragement
along the way.
Once completed, you now need to display it in a prominent place
where it is regularly visible to you. You may also wish to write parts
of it down on post-it notes and stick them in areas where you will see
them – this will keep you focussed.
It is important to regularly re-visit your plan to check that you are ‘on target’ to achieve what you hope to. It can also be
good to reflect as to whether there is a more effective or efficient way of attaining your goals. Perhaps, as life takes place
around you, your plans may change and this is when you need to sit down again and re-plan for your five years!