Want to hear a fun fact? Everybody is nervous about the future.
Okay… So maybe it isn’t that fun, but it is a fact nonetheless.
The future is ambiguous and mysterious; not a single person on earth can guarantee where they will be ten years from today. All we know for certain is that there is an English paper due next Tuesday, a Math quiz this Wednesday, and a Chemistry lab on both Monday and Friday (and sometimes even those events are subject to change). However, those examples are not necessarily what people think of when they fantasize about the future: they imagine their dream home and family, the amount of kids running around the house and painting on the walls, which city or town they will live in, their occupation, etc. This thought can be comforting, but hypotheses about the future may induce an existential crisis or an anxiety attack considering how abstract and undefined the future is.
Nobody wants to be the lost sock in the dryer of life.
In order to take control of your future, I will present to you a life-plan–a guide to help design your future. This is not a plan to be set in stone or carved into that tree in which your fourth-grade boyfriend/girlfriend carved your names, but instead a quick plan to organize your thoughts.
Now, you may ask: “Why should I craft a life-plan?” You should create a life-plan in order to clarify any priorities, maintain balance despite any crazy events the world throws at you, filter opportunities and utilize them to hand-tailor your future, face the realities of life, and avoid regrets. Here are some questions to consider:
How do you want to be remembered?
- Identify key relationships.
- Immediate family (brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents), distant relatives, friends, colleagues, etc.
- Describe desired legacy.
- Do you want to have children? If so, how many? Do you dream about being the best parent ever, or want to be a good parent in general?
- Do you want to be more career-oriented or family oriented?
- Would you like to own a business or work for one? Which work environment intrigues you? Why?
- Will you actively participate in a community? Do you want to? Which communal environment interests you?
What matters most to you?
- Identify priorities.
- Faith.
- Self-care.
- Immediate family or extended family.
- Career.
- Crafting.
- Adventuring.
- Assess current status.
- Where do you live? Where would you like to live?
- How old are you? What have you experienced in your lifetime?
- Are you in middle school? High school? High school graduate? College student?
- Which academic topics interest you? Math? English? Science?
- What activities do you like to do? Do you like playing sports? Drawing or sketching? Designing rooms or buildings? Solving complicated math problems? Researching information about certain topics?
How do you get from where you are to where you want to be?
- State the purpose of each aforementioned subject.
- What do you hope to accomplish? Why are these values or actions important to you?
- Select an inspiring quote per account.
- Select a quote that will encourage you to continue to pursue those values.
- Summarize current position.
- Where are you in reference to where you would like to be?
- Implement this plan.
- Decide step-by-step which direction is best for you.
- Do you want to continue into college? Do you want to attend a state school and get a job doing what you love or doing what you think you should do? Is there already a job out there for you or will you create one?
- Decide step-by-step which direction is best for you.
- Review and revise to stay on track.
- Keep checking over this plan in order to update it. You might decide to change your priorities or possibly you decide on pursuing a new path. Continue to strive to achieve those dreams.
More importantly: do the things that make you feel good; you get to decide whatever this means for you.