Does anybody here actively manage their career and life goals? My typical picture of this is somebody with a 5 or 10 year plan or something, but that sounds overly simplistic. I often feel like I could be a little bit more intentional about the direction of my life, but I'm not sure what practices work best to guide that effort.

7/29/2009 12:32:29 PM

The easiest thing that has worked for me is to just not indulge as a standard practice. It's allowed me to weather this unemployment storm rather nicely. I just assume if the economy is working ok then my income will steadily increase as I've excelled at whatever it is I was involved in from soccer as a kid, through college, and into my professional life. I absolutely could spend more non-work time developing myself in regard to classes and certifications and it [i]might[i] have made a difference in getting hired sooner, but I've found I rather enjoy being able to not think in the hours outside of work (which is why I'm hopelessly slaved to this place from time to time).

You have a kid though. I can imagine when my wife and I start to really think about popping one of those out (~3-5 years from now) I'll be a lot more rigorous about finances and such.

7/29/2009 12:40:59 PM

Mostly five year outlooks for me. Too much can happen in ten years.

Age 16-18: I knew I wanted a job working with computers, to graduate from a good college with a bachelors degree, and be employed by a good company by age 21-23.

Age 21-23: I knew I wanted to get married, build a house, and complete a graduate or professional degree of some sort by age 26-28.

Age 26-28: Where I am now. Get and keep myself into a healthy living/eating lifestyle, move up in the career ladder, and get out of debt + actually have some cash lying around by age 33-35.

[Edited on July 29, 2009 at 6:07 PM. Reason : .]

7/29/2009 6:06:26 PM

Spend as little as possible, don't spawn, profit.

7/29/2009 6:07:47 PM

My plan growing up was to go to college & be a vet... that's how I ended up accepted to NCSU's animal science program.

High School: But by the time I was a senior in high school and had worked at several vet clinics, I had found that while it was an interest, it certainly wasn't a passion.

College: Accepted to animal science, jumped around with majors to comp sci, got 2 classes away from an English major, & settled into & graduated with a philosophy degree within 4 years. And while it isn't the easiest program to get a degree in, especially when you aim to get published at the undergraduate level w/ a research grant, it is even less vocational.

Post College Plan: Worked for a few years to pay off my undergrad college loans, did some volunteering, & found out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I got a job at a vet clinic where I worked for 3 years to pay done loans, & I spent the time working with & volunteering for various causes related animal welfare, & political related causes. I also found out I'm a big fan of doing marketing for the vet clinic, doing hiring & training at the vet clinic, & radio stuff & I've done countless commentaries on the local radio station here in town, as well as gone on WUNC's the State of Things, & did a tv interview with WRAL. I also had some practice at event organizing, both with pet related charity events, but also political related events, vigils, protests & so forth. And I worked to support the Health Youth Act & Bully Bill that our governor signed into law last month...the bully bill passed by only 1 vote & when its that close it really makes the work feel worthwhile. I also got to meet my congressman, my senator, & some other interesting folk. It was the first time period in my life where I started attending events at Town Hall & public forums & community discussions & that sort of thing. I made some interesting new friends in this post-college time period, bought my first new car during this time, and probably the biggest event... I also got married during this time period.

Now: I'm resigning from that position with the Vet Clinic for the past 3 years in about a week and a half from now, & going to grad school at NCSU for a Masters of Public Administration which will hopefully give me an in into the world of political, governmental, & non-profit campaigns, causes, & work. But I'm still keeping up the volunteering working with 2 municipal level campaigns right now, & doing radio spots for them.



I'd have to say my long term plans have never seemed to work out exactly how I expected, but with each step I've built upon & found connections to the previous steps. And at times part of my "game plan" was to not have a real game plan & just try things out until I found out what I wanted to do. I've learned for me at least long term life goals have to be fluid, and that it's okay to go times without a plan, and just experience whats out there until you have more experience to build a plan upon.

I'm excited to be returning to NCSU for grad school though, I wore a Wolfpack Backpack to my first day of kindergarten, & I bought a black, red, & white bookbag to wear to my first year of grad school next month too.

[Edited on July 29, 2009 at 6:49 PM. Reason : .]

7/29/2009 6:36:47 PM

I kind of have vague life goals for myself right now. I just started a new job working for ze feds and have all sorts of benefits and helpful retirement stuff available to me. I am thinking I'll probably aim, career-wise, to get a department head/managerial position after I become an expert in my field here.

As for life goals, my primary goal is to live a long time. I think I'd like to marry somebody one day, but that's not super high on the priority list. I'd mostly like to ensure my family's overall financial stability and help my parents and brothers (and their families) out via whatever means I have available to myself. As for myself, I'd like to control the "insulin zone" fatty tissue growth (a natural consequence of putting the infusion sites where I do) and keep my diabetes under good control without hampering my diet too severely (i.e. periodically still do pizza or italian food, etc) so I can still enjoy life.

As for my want for "things"? Hm... Well, I would like to find a condo or house in the part of town I live right now (downtown) and reverse the trend of white flight (which has already begun, but the area still shows damage from this). I'd like to purchase a vehicle with very comfortable seats so I can drive to visit my family and not end up getting awful cramps in my feet/legs/back/ass every time I go for a drive (it's only a 3.5 hour drive, but my cherokee is awful for comfort). I'd like to keep up with technology and have some nice, comfortable, basic leather furniture around my house.

I'm hoping my retirement won't be too troublesome, and I'm planning on exploiting the 401k-like option at work as much as possible once I get a couple raises (expenses here are high).

7/29/2009 6:41:50 PM

get a phd at a school that's neat.

be a professor?

7/29/2009 9:54:51 PM

Quote :

"I totally need to win the lottery so I can do nothing but activism forever."

7/29/2009 10:16:32 PM

i totally expect this thread to end up in chit-chat

7/29/2009 10:18:57 PM

I have found that one of the keys to make goal setting a more motivating activity is to frequently review what you have done. Set aside some time on a regular basis to look back at what you've accomplished, how you handled situations, etc. Ask yourself how the actions you took have helped you get to your goals. Having this feedback loop in place is an extremely good reinforcement for me.

7/29/2009 10:21:24 PM

i've been struggling with the life goals ever since i graduated. back then i thought that by this time in my life i'd be married and have a house in the country working at a hands on multi-disciplined engineering/product development job i enjoy. instead, i'm still painfully single at 31, about to buy my first place in the middle of atlanta working desk job that i tolerate but don't give really two shits about.

i get by, make plenty of money for me, but honestly it feels like i've been spinning my wheels for the last 9 years. where did i go wrong?

[Edited on July 29, 2009 at 10:41 PM. Reason : .]

7/29/2009 10:40:55 PM

bump

9/18/2011 10:42:09 PM

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9/18/2011 10:52:36 PM

@ age 22: graduate, do research in molecular biology
@age 25: shit, I don't want to slave away at research my whole life! I sure like health care...
@age 25-27: pre-reqs for nursing school! + still work full time
@ age 28 (where I am now): I'm in nursing school! ...shit, I've got 2 more years of this...
@age 29: graduate, sit the NCLEX, get my RN license

hopefully job to follow..

5 years out...maybe back to grad school for a Masters and NP licensure.

9/18/2011 11:06:31 PM

Quote :

"Does anybody here actively manage their career and life goals? My typical picture of this is somebody with a 5 or 10 year plan or something, but that sounds overly simplistic."

Dare I ask as opposed to what other approach/mindset?

9/18/2011 11:21:21 PM

I plan to enjoy my life while making the most money I can working the least amount possible. Don't tell my employers.

9/18/2011 11:30:09 PM

^^-shrug- just leaving room for people who have more creative and/or effective approaches

[Edited on September 18, 2011 at 11:31 PM. Reason : .]

9/18/2011 11:30:56 PM

i had a life plan before i got into college

which involved traveling the country, working on political campaigns and changing the world for the better.

tried the campaign thing - really didn't do shit for the world, so now i'm just kind of floating along til i figure out what the fuck i'm doing with my life.

i could be in this stage for a while

9/18/2011 11:40:33 PM

I have no plans or goals. It is not an effective strategy.

Boss is like "where do you want to be in 3 years?" I'm all like "fuck, I dunno. Hopefully still getting a paycheck?"

9/19/2011 12:01:00 AM

^^^ Well, I mean, even if you don't have self-imposed time gates for promotion up the ladder, you still pretty much have to have a plan. Even if your plan is to be in the exact same spot that you're in today, that's a plan. Who doesn't think about their future?

9/19/2011 12:34:48 AM

I graduated with a civil engineering degree, and am now pursuing a career as a rock climbing coach and gym manager. I sure as hell don't get paid as much, but I love my job and enjoy going to work. My only plan in life is to do what I think will make me happy.

9/19/2011 12:39:11 AM

I used to have a 5 year plan


Then I realized... shit happens, and plans change. No use in making a 5 year plan that is more specific than have a good career, be healthy, and be happy.

9/19/2011 12:56:12 AM

No, that's why you have a primary, secondary, and tertiary plan, and maybe some ideas for beyond that, and a readiness to deviate from those plans as situations dictate.

9/19/2011 1:02:11 AM

Well my plans change pretty frequently and IMO that primary, secondary, and tertiary idea just isn't for me

No worries, to each their own

9/19/2011 1:07:34 AM

^ That's pretty much how my life goes. I'm a CE grad, I get paid enough, and I enjoy my job. Would I go if I didn't have to? Of course not. However, I feel that with my education and specialized degree, that will all work itself out.

While I really respect those with an enormous drive to be something great or achieve financial hapiness (And I"m not saying I wouldn't like to, I'm just not actively campaigning for those things), I generally am content with my half acre and picket fence.

I generally fall into the: 'In 5 years I hope to still have a job/career, a wife that loves me, my health, her health, and a healthy child or two' category.

(And I am no 'free spirit' that hasn't grown up. I feel like I have a career, just got married, have a house, etc. I don't sit around and waste away each day...that would mean I probably should make a plan)

[Edited on September 19, 2011 at 1:38 AM. Reason : ]

9/19/2011 1:37:08 AM

^ Maybe that's another thing contributing to why I don't feel it's necessary for me anymore... not only can plans change, but I'll have such a specialized degree that I KNOW what kind of job I will have. The only thing I intend to plan out in a pretty hardcore way is pregnancy (for specific reasons)

9/19/2011 1:42:27 AM

Predicting where you will be in 5 years is very difficult in my opinion with regard to career. Maybe it is just my field, but I would definitely not predicted that I'd be doing my current job 5 years ago. My theory towards career planning is to really just look out a year or two and try to achieve those goals. Setting expectations for a longer time frame is just a waste of effort in my opinion.

With regard to life goals, that is another story. I believe you can control life goals (whether it be to buy a home or travel or have kids), but you have to buy in from your spouse, assuming you have one, to achieve some of those goals so it becomes more challenging. Plus career goals always seem to conflict with life goals (at least in my experience).

9/19/2011 8:43:27 AM

Quote :

"Boss is like "where do you want to be in 3 years?" I'm all like "fuck, I dunno. Hopefully still getting a paycheck?""

exactly how I feel. I've been sitting for the CPA exam so I guess that's something for the future but I sure as fuck don't want to become a partner of a firm at this point (especially not in Fayetteville) and we're a small firm so being a CPA won't change much for me until I change jobs.

only "life goal" I have is to move to a big city and I only have a rough timetable for that (in 5-10 years)

9/19/2011 9:06:14 AM

so let me ask this

do you physically record your 3, 5, 10 year plans in a journal or something and revisit it periodically to track progress? I have a general sense of what I want over the next couple years, but if I don't write specific goals down, I'm almost certain to either forget what I "decided" last time, or it easily turns into something else

9/19/2011 9:45:50 AM

long-term goals and ambitions are easier for me to remember and I don't regularly write them down until they are on the 1-3 year horizon. The 1-3 year stuff I actually do write down. Not because they are easy to "forget," more like it is easy for other stuff you are doing to get in the way and you simply lose track of time doing your every day tasks and forget to focus on the goals you had in mind.

Also, the longer term goals tend to change based on stuff that happens with my near term goals or achievements or just lifestyle and interest deviations and I am ok with that.

[Edited on September 19, 2011 at 10:02 AM. Reason : ]

9/19/2011 9:57:34 AM

I went into school having a life plan that had very little to do with career and everything to do with family.

-Graduate college with teaching certificate.
-By the age of 25: have my first child
-Live with grandmother and take care of her as long as she needs me.
-By the age of 35: be done popping out kids
-Stay at home with my children, substitute teach & volunteer at school, work on Master's Degree
-Before the age of 50: Master's Degree completed, begin focusing on career.

I have only deviated from the plan slightly. I was 26 years old when I had Silas. My husband and I moved in with my grandmother last Christmas and cared for her until she passed away in June. I didn't expect for that period of my life to be so short, but you just can't control some things. I'm not sure that I'm going to work on my Master's Degree because I found that working with high school students simply wasn't my calling. Once my youngest is in school, I want to work on my degree in Early Childhood and get certified in Birth to Kindergarten.

I just journal in general. I started keeping at journal in 3rd grade and have done so ever since. A journal is a nice way to keep track of things and brainstorm ways to accomplish your goals. It's also nice way to see how your goals grow and develop.

9/19/2011 10:08:33 AM

Wow, I can't imagine waiting until 50 to focus on a career.

I have a written out individual development plan via work which focuses on my career goals. I'm not super concerned with them though. I like my job and try to learn new technologies, but the business is just changing so quickly I kind of have a go with the flow mentality. As far as life goals go, I graduated, got a great job, nice house, and income to do all the things I enjoy, but none of these things were ever really written down or planned out. Personally I think I'd become disappointed if I wrote out a lot of goals and dates and then missed the targets, but that's just me.

9/19/2011 11:02:45 AM

I am the product of a second marriage and my husband is the product of two very successful people who focused on career first. We are both premenopause babies who grew up with tired, ailing parents who are 2 generations removed from us. While we grew up with the advantages of being financially secure, we had parents who just weren't able to do certain things. Things like my father-in-law was getting a pacemaker when he should have been out in the backyard playing catch with his son. My mother bitching and moaning about every extracurricular activity that we did because she worked 12 hour days and was too tired to play the soccer mom. My husband and I decided before we even met that we just wanted something different for our children.

My life's work is going to be my children. A career is a secondary goal that can come later. If I never have a career, but raise happy children that go on to become happy adults, I'll be satisfied. I don't want to spend the best years of my life at work and miss out on time with my family. When my children are busy with high school and college, I'll have time to work on a career without feeling like I'm robbing my family.

9/19/2011 4:20:13 PM

I've met most of my life goals for this stage on my life. Have a job in a career I enjoy, buying a home, have a great husband, have traveled to most of the places I want to see. Now to work on starting a family.

9/19/2011 4:27:25 PM

I'm a product of a second marriage and never experienced any of those things. I don't see why one couldn't have a career and still not feel as though they were "robbing" their family. I don't enjoy spending the "best years of my life" at work although it's work with gives me the means to enjoy the "best years of my life" so kind of a catch 22 there.

[Edited on September 19, 2011 at 4:27 PM. Reason : ^^]

9/19/2011 4:27:26 PM

^^^I respect the shit out of that. It probably won't be how my life goals, but I still like it and respect it.

9/19/2011 4:39:31 PM

Are your parents old enough to be your grandparents? My husband's and mine are. Seriously, I have a 1/2 brother who was already in college when I was born.

Maybe we'd feel differently if we weren't in our 20s worrying about how we're going to care for elderly parents. Maybe I'd also feel differently if I had started on a career before having children. Maybe I'd also feel differently if my family lived a lifestyle that required 2 salaries to make ends meet. But as it is, I'm very happy staying at home with my children without worrying about sending them to a daycare, arranging time off for appointments, finding a sitter or someone to pick them up from school when they're sick, and all of the other problems that come up when both parents are working.

Like I said before, career is just a secondary goal. I don't need one to feel fulfilled or successful. I feel just fine about leaving it until later in life and joining the workforce once I have an empty nest.

9/19/2011 5:01:07 PM

Beyond enjoying myself as thoroughly as possible, accumulating as many assets as possible, and not getting cancer, I really don't have much of a plan beyond the next 18 months. I've always lived my life a quarter mile at a time, and while I'm sure I'll regret that approach someday, I'm not sure I'll live long enough to care.

9/19/2011 5:07:01 PM

My money's on heart disease.

9/19/2011 5:09:56 PM

My life goals:

1) Be a successful writer. I started reading and writing before age 3 ... and I've always known that my purpose in life was to write.
2) Maintain healthy relationships with people I love and trust. Make and keep good friends.

The joy of being a writer is that you become a better writer by living life fully, by spending time with others and by experiencing the world around you. You also become a better writer by forcing yourself to write.

I've worked hard to get where I am. I got my work permit at age 13 and immediately got my first job selling ads for the local newspaper, The Warren Record. Stayed in news, transitioned to writing and eventually became a television reporter and producer. Definitely paid my dues on tough assignments, working insane hours.

Today, I'm a writer for Disney. And I LOVE what I do. It's a dream job.

One day, I will write and publish a novel. But I'm in no rush. To be a good writer, you have to experience life so you understand the world around you.

Writers are an adventurous sort. The whole 5-year plan holds less appeal. The adventure is in the journey. I never set out to get where I am. My entire life, I've taken each day at a time with very little regard for the future. Looking back, I'm very happy with the journey and my current destination.

Where do I want to be in 5 years? 10 years? 15 years? 20 years? The same thing I'm doing today: writing and exploring the world with people I love.

9/19/2011 5:25:45 PM

When I was a kid and people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I said I wanted to be a scientist and written about in text books.

So I'm working on that.

9/19/2011 5:36:41 PM

I used to be the type that needed everything planned. I felt safe with a plan, like I knew exactly what was going to happen because I had a plan. Then I realized plans don't mean shit and you might as well just go with the flow and don't make yourself miserable because of a goal you made when you were 4 years old or 18 years old. Now I don't really care as long as I enjoy waking up in the morning and can take care of myself.

9/19/2011 6:03:21 PM

I don't have 5, 10, 20, whatever year plans for the sake of setting "gates" or milestones for myself, but i have plans, backup plans, backups to the backups, and crazy ideas that I won't totally write off. The timelines are driven by external stuff like how much longer I can stay in my current job (without leaving the local area), and at what point I'm no longer tied to the local area (presumably, 14 years from now when my daughter leaves for college).

From the time I was a little kid, like probably 3rd or 4th grade, I wanted to be a fighter pilot. I ended up being an attack jet navigator (Goose instead of Maverick). Kinda got boned by the system at several different turns, but you know, that's not too far off from what my dream was, and not a lot of people can say they ever got to do the things I did, so I'll count that as a sort of win, with caveats.

I kinda planned on making the military a career, but a series of unforeseen things happened: an unplanned pregnancy with a girl I was only casually involved with while I was in flight school, a few things happening to make me not really want to go back to my professional community in the USMC anyway, FL law changing and affording me the opportunity to have 50% custody if I stay put in the same area as my daughter, and finally catching a break with the USMC and getting orders back to FL. With all of those factors combined, I'm now planning on getting out in 3 years, so for the last year or so, I've been making new plans to account for the changes in circumstances.

-Transfer to the Air Force and see if I can stay at Eglin AFB for 9-10 years until I can retire. Might be able to work something similar in Pensacola with the Coast Guard or full-time Navy Reserves.

-Civilian contractor or GS job, still related to the military

-Civilian job, totally unrelated to the military (likely either engineering or something aviation-related). Prob won't do this, b/c I guess it'd have to be entry level, and I want to get paid.

-Get my Ph.D in something like international relations from UWF, which is 15 minutes from where I'll be living. Stay on at the university after graduation as a professor. Problem with this is I'm sure the pay is approximately jack shit while you're still doing your studies, and then I could do all that work and not be able to get the job there as a professor. I'd be unwilling to go anywhere else, because I'm not going to leave the Pensacola area until my daughter is grown.


In any case (aside from going active duty in another branch of service), I'll probably join the National Guard or the Reserves...hopefully either learn to fly helicopters, or do some of the special forces stuff (MC-130s, etc) they do at Duke/Hurlburt fields down the road at Eglin AFB.


My long-term interest, after my daughter is grown and off to college, is the CIA, either as an analyst at Langley or possibly with their paramilitary forces, as a pilot or something. I think the pay is generally not very good, though, and there's a lot that can change in the next decade and a half.

9/19/2011 7:14:16 PM

A plan. For the plan, just in case the original plan fails. Mine is to stay out of debt. I've done that. Then build a car, I've done that and I'm nearing completion. By next summer it should be pretty set. Now I want to save money, party less and try to get a house. Women, they come they go. So I don't plan on them.

9/19/2011 7:22:40 PM

I wanna be Bobby's girl!

Seriously though, my main goal is always to do more now. And I'm really bad at it. I'm always too busy, too broke, too tired...to do more now. I need to travel more, go to more shows, spend more time with friends, visit family more, donate more time to good causes, read more, etc...

Long term goals aren't really my thing cause I don't really have any, I guess.

[Edited on September 19, 2011 at 8:27 PM. Reason : sss]

9/19/2011 8:08:39 PM

no thanks, i'm taken.

9/19/2011 8:42:02 PM

Quote :

"^^^ Well, I mean, even if you don't have self-imposed time gates for promotion up the ladder, you still pretty much have to have a plan. Even if your plan is to be in the exact same spot that you're in today, that's a plan. Who doesn't think about their future?"

(that quote wasn't directed at me, but it applies)

Quote :

""Boss is like "where do you want to be in 3 years?" I'm all like "fuck, I dunno. Hopefully still getting a paycheck?"" exactly how I feel. I've been sitting for the CPA exam so I guess that's something for the future but I sure as fuck don't want to become a partner of a firm at this point (especially not in Fayetteville) and we're a small firm so being a CPA won't change much for me until I change jobs. only "life goal" I have is to move to a big city and I only have a rough timetable for that (in 5-10 years)"

As a little more explanation from my original post here:
Where do I want to be in 3 years? I dunno.
Do I want to be in the same position I am now? I dunno.
Do I want to be with the same company I'm with now? I dunno.
Do I even want to be an engineer at all? I dunno.

The only things I care about for my 5 year plan:
1 - Don't be dead.
2 - Get paid somehow.
3 - Like, be a good person, or something esoteric and meaningless like that.

Beyond that, I really can't say. Do I think about my future? Sure. Do I come to any conclusions? Nope.
Like I said before, I do not recommend this strategy.

9/19/2011 9:34:33 PM

Just saw this old thread bumped. Part of my last post:

Quote :

"Now: I'm resigning from that position with the Vet Clinic for the past 3 years in about a week and a half from now, & going to grad school at NCSU for a Masters of Public Administration which will hopefully give me an in into the world of political, governmental, & non-profit campaigns, causes, & work."

- 7/29/2009


Did all that, and it worked.

9/19/2011 9:51:03 PM

Quote :

"get a phd at a school that's neat. be a professor?"

hey sweet i'm on track.

i definitely have a 5-10 year plan, although it's a pretty standard for academia plan. also, it's pretty easy to plan a career that, when it goes to plan, goes: get a phd, get a postdoc, get a position, get tenure, so at this point you're 35 and keep the same job until you die.

[Edited on September 19, 2011 at 10:50 PM. Reason : oh god i hope i get to do that!]

9/19/2011 10:49:33 PM

I actively manage/evaluate a 5 year plan ...

I have found that the problem with doing this though is that it is easy to look at what you want to be doing in 5 years, and say to yourself ... what the hell is stopping me from doing that now instead of 5 years from now .... hence my move into management instead of staying technical for 4 more years (had been working in a highly technical role for 5 years when I made the jump)

So, now I have the next 2/5 years laid out. Because what I plan to do 5 years from now is pretty much in the same career ladder as what I am doing right now, the option to jump ahead 5 years just does not exist. So, now I am more focused on doing well at what is asked of me, and building up credibility by adding things to my plate that broaden my skills and experience ... all in hopes of being in a good position to take advantage of whatever opportunities are placed before me over the next 5 years that will help me reach that goal. If an opportunity is placed before me that requires work but is less likely to contribute to my skills and expand my versatility, then I am more hesitant to hop on it (as time is limited), and I wait for good opportunities and evaluate them more critically when they are presented. All this is because I know where I want to be and have looked deep in to what it takes to get there. Without a 5 year plan, I would not be so focused, and would likely be just going with the flow and doing things that wont really help me out but cause me lots of extra work.

9/19/2011 10:51:47 PM