Where do you see yourself in next 5 years??!!??

zagor

Well have some time so thought to write this...

I went today to Uni to speak to my supervisor and he asked me a question that locked me in my chair for few milliseconds. He asked "Where do you see yourself in next 5 years....and beyond that" Then he went "... or better still imagine yourself in time 5 years from now, what would you like to have achieved?"
Though knowing full well what two 'things' I really wanted to have in my life more than anything I was really locked into this moment almost powerless, because his next question was that 'one inch' punch which blew me off as if struck my Bruce Lee himself, he asked "...and what are you doing now to make sure that really happens that way?"
His comments were more directed toward my plans of travel and study along etc. But questions struck deep inside of me like a sledge hammer. Am I going to be here mourning and bitching 5 years latter and let opportunities go away, am I going to let people that really mean something in my life disappear in vacuum of time, am I going to do everything in my power to overload myself and others so as to ensure failure or am I really going to start taking life seriously and set my priorities straight?! (ok that was rhetorical question you don't have to answer that for me lol;P)
I mean I've been in business and you would have thought that would have taught me a lesson, well it did as far as business is concerned. Somehow though life is not a business, life's mess it is beautiful and it is ugly, it is sad and joyous. In business if you start sliding toward ugly there's not much time left for you. Life on the other hand somehow not only fluctuates but mixes and entangles all those things together so that sometimes it is not easy to see right from wrong, if there are such things at all. And I see that often among my colleagues, where people find job or study or hobby an escape from reality which is fine, we all need it, but what if it takes life of its own and stifles reality? Because we can only live in reality, and if we avoid it, it will punch like a thunderbolt one of these days when every opportunity passes us by.
Why am I saying all this? Well to answer my freakin' question where do I want to see myself in next 5 years?

How about you tell me your ideas for yourself ;) that will give me some clues too. :)

LittleToe

Live in the moment - don't waste a second... I make long term plans and aim in that direction, getting my ducks in a row while inexoriably working my way there. I don't have much time merely for myself, but then again I enjoy everything I do as if it were all for myself.

At the moment I have education and career on my mind and that will probably take at least five years to complete, maybe ten if I go for the Phd. While travel is a passion of mine, its also just something I fit into the packing space between getting where I want to be... which inevitably will allow me more opportunity for travel

Pick a point, plot a rough course and then take time to enjoy the journey, rather than fixating on the destination.

Just my 2p

JH

I'll be the same but just a bit older and closer to my end.

RichieRich

I guess 5 years from today will be valentine's day 2012.

So I'll be spending it with Crumpet / Lonelysheep / whoever I can convince to spend time with me, and hopefully, we'll be counting my money.

uwishufish

My written goals are

1. Health through diet and exercise

2. Liquidity of $7.5 mil

3.Owner of a bank.

4. Ability to help others

5.Twin engine plane with pilots licenese

6. Full time domestics

Abandoned

Book signings.

AuldSoul

I will have a retirement fund well on its way to maturity. I will have a Middle School home with Boys as the gender. My wife will be out of the organization. My house will have a reputation among Middle School students of being fun and strict. Slackers will hate my name and curse it regularly. Those who choose behaviors that tend to create success for themselves will appreciate my home.

I will have many friends I trust and respect; these friends will trust and respect me. I will be regarded as an exemplary housefather. My wife and I will have a strong relationship with one another.

I will have at least three of my guys in College; well on their way to success.

Respectfully,
AuldSoul

zensim

Two nights ago I was asked a very similar question. I was brainstorming with four strangers about running your own small business. One of the questions was:

'Imagine your business in 10 years time. During this time you have achieved everything with it that you would like to in the next ten years, it is not a fantasy future eg "I've won the lottery", rather it is a realistic vision of your future should your dreams and hopes come true. Take a moment to write down what that vision of success is. Think about where you will be in your personal life 10 years from now, how your personal life and business life interact, how the business is running, what you want your involvement to be, how big or small your business is, who your customers are, where it is located etc.'

In contemplating my answers I found it very hard to separate business from personal life. They are very much linked to each other - both of them adding meaning to my life. Perhaps that is because I am in a business which I love and reflects very much who I am.

Nevertheless, there is a delicate balance in answering any question that requires us to plan long term. It is important to have goals and work towards them proactively, that challenge us and help us to grow. What is also needed though is a degree of non-attachment around these plans being accomplished the way we hoped and planned they would - or even eventuating. Expectation can be a killer and often blind us to other possibilities. As can being too focussed on a 'destination'.

I do believe in living in the moment and seizing all possibilities and also allowing things to flow away from me and toward me. I don't hold on too tightly to anything.

I think in answering this question, the more important question is "What are your core values?" and "What 'things' add meaning to your life?". Once these become very clear it is not difficult to then - in the moment - choose what matches your priorities. And nothing is set in stone, changes can be made, just as much as we adapt to change.

For instance, for me, one of my goals is to have a thriving business which includes teaching and educating 'professionals' and my other goal is to have another child. How quickly I attain the first goal is largely going to be determined by (a) whether the latter goal is achieved (big question mark?) and (b) if it is achieved, in what time frame.

Looking at my notes I made the other night I also saw that a lot of the answers I gave would perhaps be a bit 'less instantly gratifying' for some people who are movers and shakers. That is because I personally put ethics, care for the environment, global consciousness etc equal to monetary growth. Which can sometimes necessitate a slowing down. But that is part of my core value system and I don't want to be somewhere in 5 or 10 years and regret the way I achieved success (success also being a very subjective concept).

So where do I see myself in 5 years time? More happy, more grateful for the life I have, more open, more free, more in the moment - and having lost nothing that I value or respect in the process.

GBSJG

That are some excellent questions. Some people always seem to complain about how there lives are at this moment. But they are not taking any steps to change there live to the better. In the end often only you can really change your own life.

I'm almost done with my fading so in the next 5 years I hope I don't need this website anymore. I got a lot of help from this site from the start of my research till now. But I hope I really get over it and no longer see my self as en ex-JW but just a normal person. It's a waste of my time to read about all the things the WTS does and get upset everytime about it, it's just not worth it to do that for the rest of my life. I understand, that because most of my family is still in I will still reguraly get confronted with it and never really forget about it. But I want it to be a small part of my life not as big anymore as it is now.

Must JWs will probably answer to this question that they want to be in the paradise by then. That gives them a good excuse to be lazy and don't change anything in there lives that they are upset with but just to keep complaining and hoping.

jaguarbass

In 5 years I will be 3 years away from being able to collect social security and retiring.

Where do you see yourself in next 5 years??!!??

Share this