5 Year Plans (and other musings)

I embarked on my current 5 Year Plan in 2008 when I was finishing law school. My plan encompasses the big goals I aim to achieve in that time period, broken down into categories (personal, professional, financial and spiritual) with timelines and asociated task-specific action plans. I set out all the things I wanted to achieve by 2013, the most important (to me) of which was to be back in Ghana permanently. Some of my stages are event-dependent and require me to build on other achievements and others can be pursued independently.

I have it all written down in an Excel workbook. I refer to it often, as sometimes I make additional notes, cross of redundant / irrelevant bits and modify accordingly. I recently crossed off one of the points – becoming debt-free and I have nearly attained other milestones in the personal and spiritual categories. Certain things are taking longer than I envisaged to come together, but I'm still upbeat about the overall progress.

A friend was expressing dissatisfaction with where her life was – she earns a good wage as an investment banker, but she doesn't feel that is her calling. She often says the work is "repetitive, mind-numbing and soulless". I always thought she said that so people wouldn't dwell on her work. I asked her what her short-term plans were and I got no response.

So, I tried a different tact; I asked where she saw herself in the next three years. Same inconclusive stalling; "you know, happy and fulfilled" was the best I got. I tried to tell her (without sounding judgemental) that in order to figure out where she wanted to go, she needed to decide which direction she wanted to go in. She was appreciative and reminded me that I was voted "Most Likely to Succeed" in our secondary school class. It amazes me whenever people think I have it together because, truth be told, I am struggling very hard to make it onto the path I want to be on. All the planning in the world will mean naught if I can't get where I want to and I told her that. We left with a bit of insight into each other's struggles. I am reminded that, despite what it might look like, everyone is fighting their own battles.

So, on days when I have to reassess my timeline because getting back into the training contract saddle is taking longer than I ever imagined, I shall try and think of all the things that are going right and be happy about where I am.