5 Year Plan

I just posted this huge thing about how I'm going to post my 5-year-plan, and something happened and I lost the post. Hate it when that happens.

So basically, I've been ignoring the 5 year plan I drew up in 2005. Actually, I followed it until about this year, and I really have been ignoring it lately. Sometimes I just forget about it, and I drift instead of taking specific actions towards my goals.

I need to get back on track. I decided that this blog would be a good way to keep it in front of me and maybe even add some accountability to it.

Here are the values which form the foundation of my 5-year-plan:

Family & Lifestyle

This value refers to the well-being and quality of life of my family and the time we spend together. It also refers to my vision of myself as a mother, wife, sister, daughter, and daughter-in-law. This is my top value as everything else on my values list means nothing without this.

Health & Recreation

This value refers to my personal well-being, my physical and mental health, and anything I can do to give me energy to support my other values. I include Recreation because I have come to accept that I require a certain amount of fun and leisure in order to be fulfilled and to keep my “axe” sharp in other areas of my life.

Independence (Finances & Career)

Over the years I have come to accept the fact that I strongly prefer to set my own course, I am a self-starter, and I prefer to set my own agenda whenever possible. I realize that to achieve my ideal state with regards to this value, I must be both self-employed and financially secure. However, I've drifted from this mindset since 2005, and my values may be changing. Or I may be going through a phase.

Here are my 5-year goals:


Family & Lifestyle

1) Be Canadian (done by the end of this month)

2) Our house will be a comfortable, peaceful, visually pleasing and reasonably well-organized haven for us to relax, work, and play in. It will also be an attractive and inviting place to visit.

3) In five years, Garielle will have sampled a variety of experiences, such as dance, swimming, art, literature, music, competitive sports, travel, opportunities to develop solo, and opportunities to develop collaboratively with peers and with her parents. Her interests will be supported, and she will continue to be encouraged to explore new interests as well.

4) In five years, Garielle will have a wonderful repository of documentation, memorabilia, and history that will chronicle her life thus far. This will be in the form of scrapbooks, boxes of carefully chosen memorabilia, and video footage.

5) Before five years, my affairs will be organized as if I had a year to live. (This sounds morbid, but it comes from an exercise I did asking what I would do if I had a year to live. Why wait for such bad news to get my affairs in order? Why not get them in order and keep them in order for the rest of my life? That way, I have piece of mind and my family will have an easier time of it should the worst happen.) This includes my papers being sorted and organized, significant memorabilia identified (so that people won’t say “What’s THIS?”), and my business affairs documented. I will keep a document on my computer listing my bank accounts, all online business with passwords, etc. plus details about what Eric should know in the event I die.



Health & Recreation

1) Be an athlete. Be a runner and be able to perform at least one other sport moderately well. (ha ha ha ha! Oops, excuse me . . . )

2) In five years, I will have had at least one “cosmetic” procedure done (teeth bonding, tummy tuck, etc.)

3) Take at least 3 trips to places I’ve never been before.

4) In five years, we will have space in our home and yard for our hobbies, for Garielle to play, etc. This could also fit in the first value.


Independence (Finances & Career)


1) Become self-employed by December 31, 2008 as an online entrepreneur through the following businesses:
a. Holly Zenith (decided to nix this one)
b. New & Improved You (nixing this one too)
c. A career or life coaching business (not sure.)
I need to revisit this.


2) Be securely employed in a job I can enjoy by July 1, 2007. (done, unless they fire me.)

3) Become financially savvy, comfortable with our own portfolio, understanding money, be a skilled budgeter and a saver, be confident in my financial decisions.

4) Have at least 3 months salary in reserve.


So from this, I actually developed yearly plans, which I broke down even further into months. I followed them pretty well until, oh . . . maybe this past December. So now I need to look at my monthly plans.

I find that I stall out quite easily. If I give myself little bits of an overall goal, I sometimes can manage it.

More in next post.