The 5 Year Plan and Why You Need It

5 year plan, right?

To hell with Generation X… let’s try Generation Wealth. Black Generational Wealth, that is.

Now, let’s not get defensive and all in our feelings.  Let’s talk reality. Facts.  You need a five year plan..now!

So I don’t care how much money you spent on Jordans IN THE PAST! Nor how many designer bags you have from BEFORE. I don’t want to talk about the fruits of wealth versus the simulation of status. We could talk about those things all day. However, that’s not what we are here for. We are here to secure wealth.

True wealth can’t be measured by your yearly gross income because jobs can be lost. Health can deteriorate and make you unable to work. People will say to work hard, or to follow your dreams or to have faith and never give up. All these things are necessary but they mean nothing without the generational wealth guide. That’s why you need to focus on creating the best investment plan for 5 years.

Table of contents

• Plan or fail
• What is a five year plan
• Ways to make a 5 year plan achievable
• What to do first
• Creating a 5 year plan
• How to create a 5 year plan
• I even did a 5 year plan case study
• Make the steps part of your routine
• Don’t try to be a super hero
• After the 5 years is up?

Plan or fail!

So why are we here? Mainly, to explore the many different ways to monetize skills, create passive income, and create black generational wealth. It’s always roses for someone who already has thousands or more to invest in their future and can jumpstart a legacy from step six.

But what about the guy or girl who works at WalMart? Makes minimum  wage and spends every cent on survival? Yes you have to want it…BADLY!!! But also, you have to know how to get it. And that’s where the 5 year plan comes in.

What is a five year plan

It’s a roadmap for your life. And something written down that tells you what you need to be doing to get where you want to be. If you told me, you wanted to become a world famous opera singer, I wouldn’t tell you to start by hanging out in front of an opera house with your resume, especially if you had never sung in public before.

My approach would be to tell you to get a paper and a pen. Or, since it’s not 1983, grab your tablet or cellphone. Then what? Well, yiou can’t get famous for something unless you have the skill, and have the exposure. So, while step 103 might be to make a list of potential talent agents that could represent you, step 1 is completely different.

I would tell you that step 1 would be to find a place in your area that will give you vocal lessons. The five year plan helps you recognize what steps you need to take so that you are never at a loss for what comes next. I’m not making this up. Even CNN will agree. You can check out their take here.

But mostly, developing a five year plan and writing it down, makes sure that you will subconsciously begin doing the steps it takes to lead you to your end goal. Go ahead and get our 5 year life plan template on amazon!

Ways to make a 5 year plan achieveable

Goal setting may vastly improve your life. To identify concrete skills you would like to improve, experiences you would like to have. Probably challenges you would like to overcome, you’re much more likely to make those things a reality. To create a five year plan means a perfect and useful way to structure your goal setting and achievement.

Creating a five-year plan will take careful planning and significant introspection. You should understand that the benefits of a five-year plan are worthwhile, however. Follow these notes to be able to create an achievable and actionable five year plan for yourself:

1. Determine the breadth of your plan
2. Brainstorm your potential goals
3. Establish your long term goals
4. Research the process careful
5. Identify your annual goals
6. Create a breakdown of the 5 year plan
7. Be able to determine your focus
8. Create the needed change
9. Revisit your plan again

Determine the breath of your plan

First, you need to start by identifying specific categories for your goal setting. You may consider the following areas of your life such as:

• Finance
• Service
• Relationships
• Fun
• Career
• Home
• Health

Now decide whether you really need to focus on one area, a few areas or all areas of your life in your five year plan. Then write each area’s title at the top of a piece of paper, we advice you get our template.

Brainstorm your potential goals

Next step, think about your potential goals for each category. You should consider setting SMART goals, which are:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realistic
• Time-bound

This will help you establish these goals, on your piece of paper make two columns for each goal category. In the first column, just free write possible goals you would like to accomplish in five years. In the other column, write down the necessary skills, experiences and strengths you have that will assist you in order to reach your potential goals. Patiently do this for each goal category.

For Example: Let’s use Mike. Mike writes:

• To obtain a managerial position.
• Win an award in his career
• Must have presented at a conference.
• Lead a project team.

In the second column, Mike will list his skills, strengths and experiences that are related to the work:

• Professional development classes
• Empathy
• Public speaking
• Selected for a small-group project last quarter

Establish your long term goals

You need to review your list of potential goals and the experiences and skills you have that will support reaching those goals. Then you need to choose one goal for each category, this will be based on its applicability to the SMART metrics and the list of supports.

Example: Mike will decide on “obtain a managerial position” as his five year plan goal. He decided that the other potential goals may work better as short term goals to reach the managerial position. And that the skills and experiences he has will best align with him pursuing a leadership role.

Research the process careful

Next, you will research the best way to be able to achieve each goal. You might consider reading books from professionals in that category. Speak with your friends, colleagues or mentors who have been able to achieved the goal. Even consult other goal specific information sources to establish what you will need to do in order to reach your goal in five years.

Example: Mike will decide to speak with their current boss about promotion opportunities. Begin to read several books on management and leadership to determine what they will need to do in order to reach their goal of becoming a manager.

Identify your annual goals

You will use the information from your research to establish your annual benchmarks. These goals should be able to help you on the path to your goal. But understand that they should be very small in scope and scale than your five year goal.

For instance: Currently, Mike is an entry level employee at a big, corporate office. They understand they may need to hold at least another position before they are promoted to a manager role. Mike will determine the following annual goals:

• First year: Work on a departmental major project
• Second year: Lead a departmental major project
• Third year: Promote to the associate position
• Fourth year: Lead four or more long term departmental projects
• Fifth year: Promote to the position of a manager

Create a breakdown of the 5 year plan

Next, take a look at your year one goal. Then create a monthly breakdown of the steps you will take to achieve that particular goal. If it’s necessary or even helpful, consider to establish weekly or even daily steps from there that will help you remain focused on your goal.

Instance: Mike will begin to establish monthly goals to work on a departmental
major project. They might decide to work majorly with monthly goals as a start and from then establish weekly or daily goals if that will be necessary:

Monthly plan

• First month: To identify peers whom their leadership regularly selects for major projects. Be able to determine what skills, qualifications and experiences they have that positioned them for those major projects.
• Second month: Now speak with colleagues whom the leadership regularly selects for major projects about their own experiences.
• Third month: Increase their workload, skill set or another project favorable metric.
• Fourth month: Now speak with the supervisor about your desire to work on a major departmental project.
• Fifth month: Must attend professional development.
• Sixth month: To continue to increase workload, skill set or another project favorable metric.
• seventh month: Discuss the goal in their annual performance review.
• Eight month: To create a good leadership reading list.
• Ninth month: Must read at least one book on leadership a month starting from this very month.
• Tenth month: Apply to work on a major project.
• Eleventh month: Work on a major departmental project.
• Twelve month: Write down your reflection and reassess your next year’s goals.

Be able to determine your focus

You need to consider why you need to reach this goal. To acknowledge why you need to pursue this goal will assist you remain focused. As well as determined over the weeks, months and years of your work. Write down the reason or reasons on a sheet of paper and post the paper in a place where you will be seeing it regularly.

For instance: Mike needs to become a manager so they might help other junior colleagues to develop work skills. Equally be able to support their family and improve own their own qualities.

Create the needed change

Once you’ve written down your plans, it’s time for you to take action. Just follow the steps you have written out in your previous steps in order to achieve your long term goals. You will find out that you really need to be more or less specific with your short term plans. As you start to work towards your own goals. Adjust them when it is needed.

Instance: Mike will find out the monthly goals are sufficient for the first four months, but then they will decide to set their weekly goals after having spoken to their manager concerning a big project.

Revisit your plan again

At least once a year, you need to revisit your five year plan to see if you will need to adjust any annual goals or monthly goals. You may achieve your long term goals much more quickly than you thought you would. Or, you may find out that you will need more than five years to be able to meet the goal. So, continue to revise as necessary until you are able to meet your goal or goals.

For instance: Mike is chosen for a major project in month six of their year one plan. They will revise their annual goals for it to be able to reflect this change and move up all their annual goals.

What to do first

First…Decide where you want to be. This isn’t’ always obvious or easy. Speak to people daily about their expectations of their future. The most popular answers you  get are…”I want to be rich”. And if you ask, what they want to do, to net them that type of income, the answer is usually..”I want to do a little bit of everything, be an entrepreneur. Just as often,  people say they want to be rich and have a good job.

There is nothing wrong with either aspiration, they are just incomplete. There is a skill, and passion in everyone that usually becomes the basis for their 5 year plan.  An important question I believe should guide every plan is: What affect do I want to make on this world? What type of things do I want people to say about me in my eulogy? Why would my children, nieces, nephews, etc be proud to know me and look up to me? Got your answers? Now it’s time to make your 5 year plan.

Creating a 5 year plan

So what does your life look like in 5 years? Financially, Spiritually, health wise, relationship wise, community…in these major facets of your life, where do you want to be.

After you define that 5 year goal in every category, then you work your way backwards. And depending on how intricately your plan is developed, you could define your 4, 3, and 2 year goals in those same categories. But many just go to the 1 year goals.

The important thing to ask yourself when you are defining your one year goals, “What has to happen by this time next year to make sure that my 5 year plan is attainable.  How about 6 months, then 3 months. What about 1 month, then 2 weeks from now. Next week.  Tomorrow. Right now!

How to create 5 year plan

Before we consider how to create a 5 year plan, first let’s understand the benefits of you creating a 5 year plan for yourself.

Benefits of creating a 5 year plan for yourself

A 5 year plan might significantly be the plan that will increase the likelihood that you will be able to reach your goals. As well as to ultimately achieve the kind of life you want to live. To create a 5 year plan for yourself will make you to be able to clarify your goals, ensure that they are more specific and measurable. It will help you to confirm that they are what you really want for yourself.

How do you create a 5 year plan for yourself

Here are the crucial steps you need to take to be able to create your 5 year plan:

Consider what you really desire for your life

Begin by simply evaluating what you really want for your own life, relationship, career within the next five years. Privately, and , thoughtfully consider what will really make you happy in the future. As well as provide you with a feeling of accomplishment within you.

One way you can brainstorm what you want is to write down all your career related goals. That you think you might want to accomplish within the next five years, no matter what they are. Here, you should be able to think on many ideas as you can at this stage. Another way you can be a able to brainstorm what you want for your life is to write down things that really inspire and motivate you. We believe this should be a simple exercise since these dreams will often dominate your subconscious and even possibly your conscious thoughts.

Write down your skills and experience

The next step is you will considering what you actually know and have yourself. Bear in mind that there is always a difference between what you know and what you have experienced. What you are currently doing and what you want to do now or later. Probably you might be in transition, you’re changing career paths. If that is the case, known that what you’re currently doing might be vastly different from what you really want to do. However, you might have the necessary knowledge, skills and experience that will position you to move in your new directions. If you don’t have yet, then your 5 year plan might help you define what steps you will need to.

You need to identify your transferable skills

This very step is particularly relevant if you plan to make a career transition. Take a look at your current list of knowledge, experience and skills. From that very list, you will then consider which of those skills is easily transferrable to the career that you want to have. You might need to talk to a trusted friend or family member to be able to get additional insight into which skills on your list are more transferrable.

Learn more about your goal

The next step is for you to learn about your goal. Carry out a research online to be able to learn about the position you want to have. Together with the educational and skill requirements for that role. You might equally need to look at career related social media sites. Where you may look through the profiles of people in positions that are very similar to the one you want to be in five years. Look at the patterns within those profiles and take good note of where those individuals were five years ago.

You may even want to consider reaching out to those individuals personally and asking them if you can send them an email with questions or, even better, sit down for coffee and talk about their career path. Most people are very willing to offer you insight into what they do and how they got to be where they are today. They also may be able to offer guidance about what specific path you should take, even if it’s different from their own. Speaking to them personally gives you a unique opportunity to learn what they would do differently to get to where they are today.

Carefully define your goals

After you must have learned about the career path and must have carried out research on the goals you are hoping to achieve. This next step is for you to refine your goals based on what you have learned. It’s a very good idea in this very step to use the SMART goal setting method. This will ensure that your goals are attainable, specific, realistic, measurable, and time-bound.

Write down the steps

Within this very step, you will decide what is more important to you so that you will be able to focus majority of your energy on those goals. To identify these specific goals that will be more relevant within the five year timeframe. You will have to focus your energy in achieving those goals. If you have much goals on your list, try as much as possible to accomplish too much within that window of time. Reason being that there is so much things to be accomplished.

Once you are able to identify the most important goal or goals, then start to make a list of steps you will need to achieve those goals. Try and identify the actions that you will need to take on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis in order to reach your goals within five years. By identifying those steps you will need to take and write down what you will need to be doing each month to reach your goals.

Be prepared for changes that may occur

Bear in mind that you are still growing and developing into the person you love to be five years from now. You would discover a new passion and even make the decision to switch your career paths within five years. There’s a very strong possibility that you will make some changes to your 5 year plan at some point. Remember that it is ultimately up to you to decide.

I even did a 5 year plan case study

As you work your way through the plan, the plan becomes less of a goal list and more of a to-do list. And that’s what a goal is, a set of actions that lead to a desired result. I made a helpful workbook that gives you space to explore and develop your plan. Check it out here if you want.

My cousin braids hair. I’m talking immaculate, beautiful designs that belong on a magazine cover. After seeing a post on her social media about how she was struggling and working 2 jobs to make ends meet, I created a 5 year plan for her. I titled it, Braid your way to a $1,000,000. She said she would read it, but reading it isn’t enough.

Having a plan is only one part of the process. Action has to be taken. 95% of people won’t make the plan. And out of the 5% that do, 95% of them won’t take the actions. And that, is why we have a surplus of people who need jobs, but not a surplus of millionaires.

Make the steps part of your routine

Be consistent! I don’t care if you can only take one step a day towards your goal. Take that step. If it has to be a 10 year plan, or a 20 year plan, so be it. The important thing is that you take action every…single…day.

Don’t focus on the end goal. I know it sounds counter-productive, but it’s true. When you wake up in the morning and brush your teeth and take a shower, you don’t do it thinking about how it gets you closer to the day being over. You’ve developed a routine of actions that create a sense of well-being in your life.

Make steps in your plan a part of that routine. If you need to send out 20 emails a day to get to your goal, then make that part of your daily routine. Not with the idea that this is part of your end goal, but with the knowledge that this is just “what you do”.

The same thing that happens with exercising everyday after a certain activity, is the same thing that will happen here. Do it enough times, and your day will feel incomplete without it.

You will unconsciously find yourself starting certain actions, simply because that’s “what you do”.

Don’t try to be a superhero

We all have a tendency to bite off more than we can chew. And it’s no different with a 5 year plan. If, for example, you want to become a best selling author. Approach it from a practical perspective.

Yes, you can pull that partially completed novel out of your closet and finish it and hope it sells. But that’s not likely. A good 5 year plan would entail that you first find out whether there is a market for that genre and topic.

So you would write a 5 year plan surrounding that goal! Include the process for figuring out what to write and who you are writing it for (target audience).

Then, figure out your marketing for the book. Will you create a book club, long before the book is started so that you can introduce the book into the group after it’s published? Maybe you start a facebook page or website on the topic of the book to build interest. Will you save up money for paid advertisement?

Once, you figure out what to write and how to sell it. Then you create your writing schedule and stick to it.

After the 5 years is up?

Once the first five year plan is up…make another five year plan. Whether you accomplished everything in that first 5 years, or only one thing. I guarantee , if you even took only 1 step a day towards completing that plan, you would be closer to your goal than ever before. And don’t forget to fashion your plan towards a larger goal. You can check out my article where I talk about the importance of creating generational wealth.

Never forget that plans change and evolve with life. But as long as you are continuously moving forward, new opportunities will arise, new goals will form, and success will  eventually come. So the real question is…where do you see yourself in 5 years, in 10, in 20? Finally,  how do you plan to get there?