5 Year Plan

I recently interviewed for a couple of different positions at various companies and couldn’t help but take notice when the same question was presented to me twice: “Where do you see yourself in five years?” The first time it was inquired, I stammered and stumbled while trying to come up with words that didn’t match what popped into my head, which was Plan A (better known as The Only Plan Ever Considered).

When I was 24, I sent my resume’ to elementary schools in Florida. Soon after, I met my children’s father, bore three children and divorced their dad. In other words, I took the scenic route, but I still had full intentions to move to the beach whenever deemed possible (a.k.a. Plan A). In the past few years, my kiddos have been old enough to have more of a say-so about decisions that affect them. Therefore, I have asked at least a dozen times if they want to move to the beach. I may have even posed the question at precise moments, such as walking out to my car to head to school in a wind chill equal to negative 20 degrees. A resounding “no” was always the answer. Something about friends and family, yadda yadda, and here I am still residing in Indianapolis, the crap weather capital of the world, or at least the country.

As you could guess, my reply to the 5 Year Plan question was weak. My answer was something along the lines of still working at the location I was interviewing in, but just having grown in my position with additional responsibilities. I’m pretty sure the interviewee saw right through me. Though I don’t know if my answer was the culprit, I didn’t get the job. I decided right then and there to devote serious thought to where I want to be in 5 years. My first go in this endeavor made me realize why this question is an absolute brain buster to me. During my adulting years, I’ve never been in one setting doing the same thing for 5 years in a row. I was married for 8 years but moved no less than 4 times during that fiasco and as for jobs…even in a career that lasted 15 years, I bounced grade levels, buildings and/or classrooms at least 7 times.

The second time the question came my way, it was during a scheduled phone interview. Despite my deliberate offerings of focus on the subject preceding the interview, my answer was evidently still mumbo jumbo. This was proven to me when I was done spewing word vomit about progressing and learning, and the interviewee asked, “Ok, but do you have a specific career goal for 5 years from now?”

Hmmm…What do I know about 5 years from now? The answers that popped immediately into my head were:

• Having attracted and received so much money that I don’t have to work, I will be traveling the world and enjoying life.
• Since my kids will all be adults, I will be living on the beach living a simple, warm, sandy life. Painting & bartending, tutoring & plasma donating – whatever provides me food and water is what I’ll spend time doing in warm weather.
• I will be an author of a published book and getting paid to pursue my passion in writing.
• If none of the above pans out, I’m hoping I will have at least moved up in my role at your company, making more than what you may offer me soon if I don’t mess up this interview.

I didn’t think any of those answers would lead to me earning a position. If I had answered truthfully, I would have said, “Based on past life experiences, I have absolute certainty that life will beat the hell out of whatever I think I will be doing in 5 years.” Life has maneuvered so many pull-the-rug out from under me dealios that I believe going with the flow vs. planning is actually easier on my mental. In retrospect, each time I was thrown a curve ball, it was for my own good. And I must admit that in each example, the final outcome was inevitable. I would have hem-hawed about it for a few years, no doubt, but the same end result would have eventually occurred. For example, I would have rather quit “the staple job” than been fired, but I was definitely going to eventually leave. I’ve decided that sometimes life pushes us into our future, creating a blessing in a gruesome disguise.

My current situation is finishing up a second week in a new job. (In case you were wondering, I was interviewed 4 times for this position and was not asked once about the future 5 year me.) I have felt pure appreciation multiple times over the past 10 days when it has been made clear to me that many of the wishes I sent up over the past year have been realized. For example:

• When I began to staple a set a pages, I sweated a bit and decided to stop and ask if there was a placement rule. The lady training me answered that they were pretty laid back around the office. Wish one had been answered.
• When I saw a paper with empty bare staple holes being filed without the holes first being covered with clear tape, I felt so warm and cozy.
• Back when my office was a storage room, I remember thinking how I would love to (escape) to see new places and meet new people for work. Last week I was told I would get to travel on company expense to meet the people in my role at other locations. Wish number two was granted.
• While teaching (and at every consecutive job since), I have mentioned how having a masseuse on site during a day would make for such a nice work environment. I recently discovered that my new job has a chiropractor visit the office once a week to realign employees if desired.
• When I heard my boss exclaim, “Bless you!” to someone that sneezed, I smiled at the assurance that I am in the right place.
• A few months ago, I watched the neighboring business of my last company hosting an outside picnic lunch for their employees and felt like a jealous kid looking through a playground fence with a sad face. I was not only fed my first day on this new job, but am now looking forward to an ice cream sundae Friday next week and a couple hour, on-the-clock, BBQ game-themed lunch in September, provided by my new employer. Wish number three was delivered with sprinkles on top.

In conclusion, while I’m a firm believer in Vision Boards, positively directed Day Dreaming, and contemplating what is wanted, I find it hard to focus 5 years, 3 months, or even 2 weeks out. (And based on my past month of existence, this no-plan plan kind of seems to work for me.) While I can only guess that I won’t need this answer for awhile, if asked again about my 5 Year Plan, my new reply would be that I will focus solely on the positive part of the current day I’m living during each of those 1,825 days. I am in awe of people who already have their Fall Break trip booked and equally impressed by those who have their plans for this weekend squared away, but I’m not built like that. I can only commit to being certain that tomorrow I will find something to appreciate before I lay my head down at night. If I do that every day for the next 5 years, I am confident that I will be happy no matter where I am and what I’m doing.