Where will you be in 5 years? What will your life be like? What will
you do for a living? These are questions that many of us think about
this time of year. When I look back at previous choices that I have
made in my life I realize what profound differences a simple decision
can make.
When most people think about "success" the subject of "delayed
gratification" rarely comes up yet as Joachim points out in the book
it may be the single most important decision you can make on your life
journey. The decision to say "I pass" so we can say "I won" is
significant.
A simple decision to put away GH¢ 20.00 a week instead of spending it
now on frivolous things can lead to a significant savings account over
the period of a few years. A decision to save for a down payment on a
house instead of moving to a larger apartment has created many
prosperous property owners. The decision to finish school instead of
taking that entry level job may pay big dividends.
Note: Successful people are willing to do things that unsuccessful
people are unwilling to do.
Why not take a few minutes today and create a 5 year personal
development plan for yourself. Visualize yourself as successful and
write down your passions and visions of your life 5 years from now.
Write down what you see in your mind. Only a small percentage of the
population ever set goals for their lives, yet the ones that do have
much greater success than those that don't. Develop some long term
habits that will take you to your destination.
We are often get so caught up in what's going on right now that we
forget to give enough thought to the slightly more distant future.
If that describes you, consider setting up a 5-year plan. That can be
the type of mid-range planning that keeps you on track for the real
long term, while not seeming so far away as to be hard to visualize. (
It's a lot easier to picture what things might be like 5 years from
now than it is it to imagine your life 30 or more years from now )
Set aside time on a regularly basis:
Really think about where you and your family want to be 5 years from
now and how you're going to get there — both financially and
otherwise.
You could schedule this time to recur automatically in your calendar
(say, every six months) or tie it to some sort of annual event (such
as New Year's or your birthday). That's also a good time to evaluate
the progress you've made to date, and to identify areas where you want
to continue to improve.
Some of the things to consider are:
•Where you want to live
•Where you want to work/how you want to earn money
•What you want to be doing in your spare time
•How much you want to have in savings and investments
•Major SMART goals you want to reach, both financial and otherwise
•What you can take action on, specifically, right now that will get
you to where you want to be
Keep in mind too that plans can (and very likely will) change over
time. That's another reason it's good to review them regularly.
There's no rule that says your plans are set in stone. But if you
don't plan, you're less likely to do and get the things that are
really important to you.
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