How To Make A 10 Year Plan
Time is a perplexing thing. Sometimes, time goes by surprisingly fast. Other times, time goes by s-s-slow. If you stop and look back at your life 10 years ago, you are probably able to point out a lot of things that are different in your life. You would perhaps be astonished by how far you have come in life.
If you, instead, are asked to look 10 years into the future, you may respond differently. You may be excited; hopeful; or worried about the future. The gist of it all is that 10 years is a really long time. Living day-in-day-out without any end goal is depressing, especially when you have more than 3,652 days to go!
So, to keep our hopes up and create some sort of structure to our life, we plan ahead. Of course, making a 10 year plan is no easy task. Planning 10 years ahead means a journey to self-discovery!
What’s that, how to make a 10 year plan, exactly, you ask?
Let’s find out!
What To Add To The 10-Year Plan Template
Rather than sitting around; and pondering how to make a 10 year plan, create your own long-term plan..! Because why waste your newfound knowledge on how to make a 10 year plan when you already have an idea forming in your head. The clock is ticking. Let’s get started and draft a template!
This is how to make a 10 year plan: include these 6 essential elements in your 10 year plan template!
- Health
Your physical and mental health should always be at the top of any of your priority lists. There would be no path to success if your health is deteriorating! You would not want to ruin your future plans with frequent hospital visits 10 years down the line! So, keep your body and mind in check. Think about the ways you want to stay healthy and fit… Are you thinking of joining a yoga class? When do you plan to quit junk food?
- Relationship
The relationship that you share with your family and friends are equally important as the one that you have with yourself. They are the foundation of any accomplishment. Your loved ones have always had your back and are always there to celebrate your every little success. It is only right that you return their love and kindness. Think about how you want to spend time with your family and friends— that’s how to make a 10 year plan, and a good one!
- Self-enrichment
You would not be consulting the internet for answers to a how to make a 10 year plan question, if you are not looking to enhance and enrich your life, right? Turn your dreams into a reality. Visit new cities, go on an adventure, read new books, pick up old hobbies, or whatever else that makes you happy 10 years from now. You have worked long and hard hours, now go enjoy your well-deserved rewards!
- Sharing
Once you have filled your own cup, fill others! Give meaning to your 10 year plan by sharing what you have with the people around you— whether that be your time, resources, knowledge, or experience.
We ensure that you will find the next 10 years to be one of the most fulfilling decades in your life! Not only will you be exuding the joy of giving— and sharing, you will be able to add value and meaning to the life of others. (You can start giving today by sharing this article on how to make a 10-year plan with the people you care about!)
- Investment
We know full-well how important finances are in bringing forth your 10 years plan. Without the right amount of investment, your plan may be at risk of never being able to see the light of day no matter how great of a plan it is. Investment enables you to be debt-free and financially stable enough to be able to carry out all the things that you have always wanted to do!
- Business
You may be changing jobs in 10 years time. Who knows, perhaps your side hobbies and passion projects may become something that you do full-time. They could become the beginning of your lifelong entrepreneurial pursuits! Adding ‘business’ as part of your 10 year plan may open the door to so many opportunities that you never knew existed.
Why Make Long-Term Plans
Setting up long-term plans is one of the most important first steps in bringing your ideas to life. Works as a guidance and point of reference, long-term plans i.e. 10 year plan puts you in charge of how and when things should happen, making it easier for you to measure and evaluate your own progress. But wait, there’s more benefits to making long-term plans than you think!
By breaking your future plans into smaller time frames, long-term planning makes it so much more convenient for you to micromanage your time and resources. This gives you the ability to see things for what they are in that span of time while keeping your end goal in sight. What good does that do? It keeps you focused on completing your tasks at hand!
Long-term plans also push you towards your goals! For each month gone by, you are met with newer tasks and taking down the older ones, it is not unusual for you to feel a sense of satisfaction, joy, and eagerness. They pretty much work the same way as those Christmas advent calendars!
Questions To Ask
Envisioning what you want your future to look like; and how you could get to where you want to be in the next decade, puts a toll on your mental health and well-being, as you can imagine. We know that soul-searching is an unavoidable part of the entire process. Since 10 years is so far into the future, it is not surprising to see that so many stop following through with their 10 year plan.
Don’t get us wrong. It is only natural for us to bring in our pessimistic views to negate any possible; and sometimes probable, positive future outcomes. You are probably all too familiar with these ‘that’ll never work out the way I intended it’ and ‘But that’s not realistic… ugh, forget it’ thoughts that always get in your way whenever you try reaching out for something more. And this may as well be the reason why you have never gotten around to putting pen to paper and drafting a single long-term plan… in, well, forever.
We urge you to fight back those negative thoughts and give it another try. Go down this series of questions to familiarize yourself with how to make a 10 years plan, exactly.
Ask yourself: In the next 10 years,
- What are some skills that you wish to master?
Perhaps you have never gotten the time to pick up the skills that you have always wanted to master or you are too caught up in your life that you neglect your own passions and desires. The answers to what you are looking to do in life may be buried deep down in your dreams and goals. They could be one of your childhood hobbies like drawing, or coding– only you would know!
- What do you want to be known for?
This question does not only apply to how you wish for other people to perceive you as a person but what you hope to accomplish in the long run. Defining a large scope of what you would love to do makes it much easier for you to look at the smaller picture and map out the steps that will take you to where you want to be!
- How do you see yourself making positive contributions to the world?
One useful way to help you work out how to make a 10 year plan is to look deep into your psyche and search for your purpose in life– that is what keeps you going everyday. Perhaps you are interested in starting your own business, ask yourself how that could create positive change in the world. If, for example, your interest lies in artistic pursuits, think about the ways in which your work can influence the world around you and go forth with it!
- Are you financially able?
Realistically speaking, your 10 year plan would never become something tangible if you are unable to support it financially. One of the most critical aspects of figuring out how to make a 10 year plan is to ask yourself if you are financially-able to take care of your own health and well-being and that of those whom you care deeply about; to carry out your dreams debt-free.
We have here a few final words on how to make a 10 year plan: bear in mind that 10 years is a long time, your likes and dislikes will change as you evolve and grow in a decade to come.
Now that you know how to make a 10 year plan, it’s time for you to start executing your plan!
