You Don't Need a 5 Year Plan

I’ve never been particularly good at knowing what I want to be doing five years from now.

Maybe that’s a problem.

We’re constantly told that successful people have a plan.

Know where you want to go.
Set the goal.
Work backwards.
Build the roadmap.
Execute.

It sounds sensible.

And sometimes it is.

But I’ve started to think we put far too much pressure on ourselves to know exactly what we want our careers to look like years into the future.

Especially when our lives are changing at the same time.

When you’re 25 and single, it’s pretty easy to imagine your career as the most important thing you’re building.

You can take the job in another city.

Work the extra hours.

Take the risk.

Go back to school.

Start something completely different.

Then life gets more complicated.

You get married.

You have kids.

Your partner has a career.

You buy a house.

Your priorities change.

Your parents get older.

Your finances change.

Suddenly, the perfect career move isn’t necessarily the one with the biggest salary or the most impressive title.

It’s the one that works with everything else.

I’ve spent 16+ years working in HR, and I’ve seen plenty of people make career decisions as though work exists separately from the rest of their lives.

It doesn’t.

Your career is part of your life.

Which means sometimes the right career decision is the one that gives you more money.

Sometimes it’s the promotion.

Sometimes it’s leaving.

And sometimes it’s staying exactly where you are because the job gives you something else you value.

There isn’t a universal answer.

I don’t think the answer is to stop having ambition.

It’s to shorten the horizon.

Instead of asking:

“Where do I want to be in five years?”

try asking:

“What do I want to be different six months from now?”

That’s a much easier question to answer.

Maybe you want more money.

Maybe you want more responsibility.

Maybe you want to learn something completely different.

Maybe you’re exhausted and need your job to take up less of your life.

Maybe you want to become a manager.

Maybe you want to stop being a manager.

Maybe you don’t know yet.

That’s okay too.

You don’t need to have the destination figured out to know that you don’t like the road you’re currently on

Earlier in my career, I probably thought more in terms of progression.

What’s the next role?

What’s the next level?

What’s the next opportunity?

And there is nothing wrong with that.

But the older I get, the more I think about fit.

Does this job fit the life I’m trying to build?

Does the money justify the time?

Does the responsibility energize me or drain me?

Am I learning?

Am I growing?

Am I proud of what I’m doing?

And perhaps most importantly:

What does this career ask me to give up in exchange for what it gives me?

That last question matters.

Because every career comes with a trade-off.

There is no perfect job.

There is only a job where the trade-offs make sense for you.

At least for now.

This might be the biggest problem with five-year plans.

We treat them like commitments.

You make the plan at 30 and then feel like you’ve somehow failed when the person you become at 35 wants something different.

But you’re allowed to change your mind.

The person you are today knows things that the person you were five years ago didn’t know.

You’ve experienced things.

You’ve learned things.

Your priorities have changed.

Your family might look different.

Your financial situation might be different.

Your definition of success might have changed completely.

That’s not failure.

That’s information.

Use it.

Instead of:

Where will I be in five years?

Try:

What isn’t working right now?

What do I want more of?

What do I want less of?

What am I willing to trade for something better?

What would make the next six months meaningfully better?

And then:

What’s the next move?

Not the perfect move.

Not the move that guarantees your future.

Just the next one.

Because you can make another decision later.

And another one after that.

That’s not a lack of ambition.

It’s actually taking responsibility for your career instead of pretending you can predict the future.

I still have no idea exactly where my career will be five years from now.

And I’m increasingly comfortable with that.

I know I want to keep learning.

I know I want to do work that interests me.

I know I want to be ambitious without letting work consume my life.

I know I want to make enough money to give my family choices.

I know I want to be present for my kids.

And I know I don’t want to wake up one day and realize I spent five years executing a plan that no longer made sense.

That’s probably enough.

You don’t need a five-year career plan.

You need to know what you’re trying to change.

Then make the best decision you can with the information you have.

And when you learn something new?

Change the plan.

That’s not losing direction.

That’s how you find it.