Why Five-Year Plans Are Bullshit

At one point in our lives, we have all been asked, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” The problem is that every five years, you are a new person. With new ideas, new goals, and new life experiences, the question becomes irrelevant.

At fifteen, if you had asked me where I wanted to be in five years, I would have said college, somewhere in New England, studying psychology. But in those five years, I moved across the world and earned degrees in History and Marketing. A far cry from being a psychologist who wanted to help young adolescents.

If you asked me at 20, I would have said I wanted to still be living in Scotland and working in External Relations for my university, where I did my undergraduate degree. But by 25, I had moved back to the United States, got diagnosed with Endometriosis, started my first post-graduate job at an insurance company that ultimately landed me in a rehab center for a nervous breakdown.

While some people might want to live by their five-year plan, they have goals and aspirations that they feel need to be done in a certain time frame. Or else they feel like a failure. But there is no success in a five-year plan.

This thing called life happens. Life, a beautiful and scary thing. It shapes and changes every aspect of yourself and existence. Each experience will transform you into a different person than you were two weeks ago, let alone five years ago. Our wants, needs, interests, and goals are ever-changing, so sticking to a five-year plan is pointless. The thing about life, it is unpredictable, and planning for the unknown is impossible. There is no crystal ball to tell us how our day is going to go.

One small action on one day can lead to a bigger purpose and plan in our lives than we intended or ever thought. So, instead of sticking to a five-year plan. Stick to a daily plan because one day at a time is easier than thinking about 1826 days.