Map The Next Decade of Your Life

How can you begin to plan for the next ten years of your life?

If you are someone who has not made a habit of making short and long term goals, then the thought of that question alone more than likely just made you feel anxious, sickened, and overwhelmed. If that was your response, then perhaps it is the right question to be asking yourself.

The act of dreaming big to map out the future puts many of us in an anxious state perhaps because we feel that there is a huge leap between where we are now and where we’d like to be in the future. It almost seems impossible to bridge that gap. Not too long ago, everyone on social media was easily captivated by the viral storm of the #10YearChallenge. We were prompted to look back to a decade ago strictly to compare photographs, then and now, to observe how we’d grown and evolved aesthetically over a ten-year period. That was a moment. But what was missing from the experiment was an introspective prompt; to encourage people to consider what their dreams and aspirations for the future were at the time compared to what they are now. If the dreams and aspirations had remained consistent over the ten year period, was there significant progress made to realizing them? If not, what factors contributed to the lack of progress? And could the outcomes have been different had there been a soft guide to adhere to within the span of that decade?

Simple questions and prompts like these have a beautiful way of revealing the most intricate and subconscious details about us and our wiring. Sometimes, all it takes is a single prompt followed by an intentional action (i.e. jotting down your thoughts) to realize that you haven’t allowed yourself to dwell on challenging questions because they call you to be more accountable, responsible, and reliable than you have before.

The Pivotal Prompt

“Hello Fears” author Michelle Poler, in an interview, recently shared a wonderful question and prompt, once posed to her by renowned designer and educator Debbie Millman, that changed her trajectory, and I believe can help you begin to map things out for yourself:

If every single thing goes right, where would you like to be in the next ten years? 

The prompt requires some real thought and very intentional journaling but if you can carefully think it over and jot down your projections for what your personal and professional life looks like, then that could be the beginning of mapping out your future, today. Having the big picture in mind and on paper helps to consider all of the small actions that need to be taken in order to gradually inch toward the goals that you’ve set for yourself.

Consider these add-ons when thinking about where you would like to be in ten years:

• What are some of the things you’ve accomplished?

• Are you personally and professionally fulfilled? 

• How is your lifestyle compared to what it’s like today?