5 Year Plan

It's that time of year again. I've got to write my short and long term goals for my career. This always gets me thinking about the future and what I want from my personal and professional life. Funny, I like how we separate "personal" from "professional" but in many ways they overlap. I'm not sure they can easily be untangled from one another.

What are my goals? I've always got a list lying around: exercise, cook more, eat healthier, build my savings account, write more, read more, travel, it goes on and on. Now I have to think more about the big picture. I try to think about what things I will look back on and regret in my old age. So, I power up my imagination and picture myself in my 70's, sitting in bed, composing a list of shoulda, woulda, coulda's.

Here's what the future me could possibly regret:

Not taking a chance in relationships
Not spending quality time with family and friends
Not seeing the world
Not achieving my educational goals
Not having a hot body while I was younger (okay, maybe that's a bit of stretch)

Using this exercise I shape my current goals. I want to be better at what I do. I want to get promoted. I want keep getting in shape. I want to love. I want to go to a kick ass school somewhere exciting.

Let's see how it goes.