Did you plan out the last five years of your life?
Most people don’t plan ahead that far. We often don’t even plan out the next day.
Imagine how much you could accomplish over the next five years if you made a reasonable plan and stuck to it. Without a plan your life is unlikely to change much. You put yourself at the mercy of luck.
“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin
Consider these aspects of your life that need planning:
Finances: Think about where you want to be financially. Consider income, net worth, debt, savings, investments, retirement, giftings. Are there new income streams you want to create? What are your future plans for spending? Do you want to purchase a house? An investment property? Or build a house?
Health: What are your current health challenges? How much do you want to weigh? What type of diet do you want to follow? How fit do you want to be?
Career: Where do you see yourself in five years? Where do you want to be working? What do you want to be doing? Do you need to go back to school? What is your dream job?
Relationships: Are there any relationships you’d like to create or dissolve? Do you want to get married? Do you want to have children or more children?
Personal Development: Do you want to learn to speak French or to play the piano? Would you like to learn how to dance? What would you like to learn or to become? What skills do you need to acquire to make the most of the next five years?
Adventure: What would you like to do? Climb a mountain? Go skydiving? See a volcano? What adventures would you like to experience over the next five years?
Write down what you want for each of these six areas of your life. Once you’ve completed that, begin the process of making a plan for the future. It’s not enough to know where you’re going. You must plan your path, too.
These strategies will help you to create a plan and execute it:
Set goals: Create a few goals for each area of your life and set deadlines for each goal. Avoid just having long-term goals. It’s important to have shorter-term goals that lead up to your bigger goals.
It’s hard to maintain focus on goals that require more than 10 weeks to reach. Break your goals down into smaller chunks. Daily Goals, Weekly Goals, and Monthly Goals.
Write a plan: You know what you want to accomplish. You have goals. Create a detailed plan about what you want to accomplish over 10-week segments of time. Just start at the end and keep working back to the present day. Make beginning simple enough that you could literally start doing something today.
Create habits: Goals are easy to achieve if you can create the right habits. The challenge is figuring out the right habits and then implementing them. With effective habits, success is a cinch. There’s a lot of material available on how to create habits. Educate yourself. It’s an incredibly valuable skill to have.
Choose a direction for your life by choosing a destination. Most people fail to plan their lives in any meaningful way. We often keep our focus too short to ever create anything substantial in the future.
A 5-year goal is a good step towards making impressive changes in your life.
Life is beautiful. Live it well.
Big Joe had a dream, he wanted to own a business.
After serving in the police service, he knew that with a little extra training, he could use his skills to start a ventilation and air conditioning company.
He and his wife saved every month until they reached their savings goal to start their business. When they felt the timing was right, they bought a van, tools and equipment and set up shop in an old warehouse.
Big Joe’s wife kept her job so they would have steady income and benefits while the business got off the ground.
https://youtu.be/E3oDMEEY9bY
For the next five years, Big Joe worked long hours and put all the income back into the business to help it grow. He gave his customers good service, attracted more customers and paid close attention to his expenses.
By the sixth year, the business was profitable and Big Joe and his wife were well on the way to owning a successful, ongoing enterprise that will increase their personal wealth.
None of this would have been possible without budgeting and saving; they set a goal, made a budget and stick with it.
Big Joe was able to use the couple’s savings to invest in his talents and entrepreneurial spirit.
You can also start and invest in your own business. This requires planning, know-how, savings and an entrepreneurial spirit.
Starting a small business can be risky, but it is one of the most significant ways individuals have to create personal wealth and achieve financial freedom.
