Do You Have a Five Year Career Plan?

Do You Have a Five Year Career Plan? Life is a funny place. It seems we go from kindergarten to retirement in the blink of an eye. We have retirement plans that we put in place as soon as we can. We have plans for dinner, vacation plans, building plans, weekend plans, landscape plans, we have plans for everything. Why do we plan out everything? We schedule weekend plans for fun because it is important. We schedule dinner plans to meet with friends so we can spend time together. We follow building plans because our homes are important to us. We follow landscape plans so our yards will look nice. All of those things are important to us and warrant a plan so that we don’t forget to do them and so that we can set aside the time to do them right. Why do you need a five year career plan? Your career warrants t at least the same importance as our yards, and dinner. A career plan provides a jumping off point that provides direction and gives you a goal of where you expect to be in five years. How to Construct a Five Year Career Plan Think about where you are today in your career. Spend a little time on this step; are you where you want to be? Are most of your peers generally at the same level you are? Are you ahead of the pack? How did you get to where you are? Is there more you could have done to get different results? Think about where you want to be in your career five years from now. Try to keep it realistic, realism is important because you are going to configure steps on how to get there. Once you have decided realistically where you want to be five years from now, start thinking about the steps you will need to take to get there. This is harder than it seems. It is hard to really think about the steps you need to take to get to your goal, because some of those steps may not be something you have considered up to this point. Like education, if you will need a degree to get to where you are going that can seem a bit daunting. Many times to reach a goal further education will be required. Professional development classes may have to become part of the plan. Sacrificing personal time may also have to become part of your plan. You should map out your steps with specific dates for accomplishing the steps. Before you know it five years will have passed and you will be where you want to be in your career. Here is something profound to think about -you are responsible for your career, plan it well, no one controls your career but you!