Do You Have a 5-Year Plan?

I have always been on a "path."

First I was on the straight A’s through middle school, graduating with honors from high school, playing all the typical sports to show my team spirit path.

Then I was on the joining all the right clubs and volunteer organizations, finding the right college, picking a flexible degree, completing the required internships, and finding the perfect job to prove my hard work after college path.

I’m exhausted just thinking back on it.

I'll be completely honest and open: over the past year, I LOST THE PATH.

As 2009 rapidly approaches, it has struck me that I need to get back on a plan. It used to bother me when people asked me where I saw myself in five years; now I understand it was because I never could quite picture anything after college.

It truly is such a simple concept. If you want to lose 20 pounds, do you make a plan to do it? Of course you do! Making obtainable goals and reaching them gives us the motivation to keep going and hopefully to ultimately reach what we desire.

So as a preemptive New Year’s Resolution, I am formulating my 5-year plan. Coincidentally, and one might even say auspiciously, five years takes me to the milestone age of 30. Here is the outline of the goals for my 5 year plan:

*Financial

*Career

*Family

Do any of you have both a professional and personal 5-year plan? If so, how are you planning it and what measures will you take to hold yourself accountable to sticking to it?