I have been a planner for as long as I can remember, creating detailed lists of what my life would look like in one, five or 10 years. For some people, goal setting and planning for the future is scary, but for me, it’s the fuel that I need to keep reaching. I’ve talked about some short term goals on Instagram recently, but now I’m ready to dive head first into my 5 year plan.
Five years from now I will be 33 years old. Five years ago at 23 years old, I felt like I was so far behind. Despite crushing goals that I had set for myself, my life didn’t “look” like I had thought it would. I expected that I would be married with a family by then and a home, that I would be climbing the corporate ladder. Isn’t it funny to look back and think, “thank God I didn’t get what I thought I wanted”?
So first things first, let me just say: It’s okay to have a 5 year plan that doesn’t come to life. I look at my 5 year plan as a guide, to keep me ambitious and determined. It’s definitely not the end of the world if it doesn’t look how I pictured it would.
The first thing that I do to create this vision for my 5 year plan is to use the Future Bio technique, which you can read about here. This technique helps me to visualize what life will be like and develop the story around it.
Anyway, my 5 year plan is pretty simple. At 33 years old, I imagine that I will live in my fully renovated home with Kirby. We will have a couple of kids, two rescue dogs and thriving businesses. I will have grown my lifestyle brand into a full-time income and have launched a complimentary brand in an e-commerce sector. We will also be in the planning stages of a new business endeavour that Kirby and I will co-own.
I also imagine that at this time, we will be searching for land to build a new home on. Something with plenty of space for the dogs. We still play co-ed soccer, go camping often and maintain our health and fitness. I don’t expect to have paid off all debt, but I plan to have all credit card debt and student loans paid off. We spend our free time hosting barbeques with family and friends and hiking with the dogs.
This is what I hope that my life looks like in five years, but you never know what other setbacks or opportunities are ahead of you. I’m determined, but also open.
The next step is to set some general goals to achieve that will lead to the life you’ve envisioned. Some goals that I’ve set to make this 5 year plan a reality are:
- Build SammmyHill.com into a thriving business that financially supports my family and offers me the creative outlet that I crave, with a community that I value.
- Develop and launch a complimentary brand to SammmyHill.com – something in e-commerce.
- Raise a couple of healthy, happy kids.
- Give Odie and our second dog the happy life that they deserve.
- Develop the concept for the business that Kirby and I will co-own.
- Purchase land to build our new home on.
- Pay off all credit card debt.
Some of those goals are actually terrifying right now, but five years is a good amount of time to set these plans in motion. Especially when you’ve set SMART, short term goals to get there. Here are a few of my SMART goals right now:
- Pitch 5 brand partnerships by the end of August.
- Pay off Visa by March 2021.
- Collaborate with another blogger by January 2021.
- Crush one personal training session per week with Kirby.
- Hike with Odie twice per week, on top of his daily walks.
These are just a few of the Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time Bound goals that I’ve set for myself and I am confident that these small steps will push me closer to that 5 year plan becoming my reality.
Do you set SMART goals? Do you have a 5 year plan? I’d love to hear about it!
