The future is bright, but that doesn’t mean it’s always clear! Often times we are so damn excited to finish school that we completely forget to think about what’s next.
The only thing on our mind is “ONE MORE TERM UNTIL FREEDOM!”
And that’s okay! But, it’s important to have some idea of what’s next so you can begin to plan for life after school.
As the age old saying goes:
By Failing to Prepare, You are Preparing to Fail…
– Benjamin Franklin
Before you know it, your HSC exams are done, Schoolies is a distant memory, Chrissy is over, New Years is hazy, and all of sudden life hits!
If you’re worried that life may get ahead of you (or already has) after school, then this is the post for you! Read on to learn exactly how to plan your life post-school so that every day is a step closer to your dream self…
Table of Contents
Learn to Visualise Success
The first step to the future you is to become a GOD at visualisation. Basically, you gotta daydream more!
I don’t want you to simply picture the future you. I want you to take 10 minutes out of your day, heck do it on the toilet if you want, to truly look into your future. How does it look? Smell? Feel? Just close your eyes and imagine you are actually living that moment.
Think about what you’ll look like in 10 years, think about where you’ll be living, who you’ll be with, whether you’re married or not, whether you have kids or not, what job you’ll be working, which places you will have travelled to, etc.
Now take all those visuals, and throw them away!
Let’s start again. This time though, think about only the next year… Where will you be in 12 months? Uni? Work? Travel? Gap Year? No Idea?
Then, think about the following few years after that… Have you finished uni? Are you starting uni? Are you working full-time? What kind of job is it? Have you been travelling for a few years? Where did you go?
Now you can run wild. Based on the next 12 months, and the 2-3 years after that, I want you to start dreaming up crazy alternatives. Just let your mind wander.
Picture yourself at 30. Do you have kids? Are you married? How many kids do you have? Where are you living? Where have you been? What job are you working? Think about your parents and whether or not you want to be like them or different to them.
This time, I don’t care how wild your dreams are, just make sure you have some!
The process of short-term visualisation before long-term visualisation allows you to create much more accurate images and realistic visions in your mind.
If nothing really pops to mind, try out this quiz to learn where your passions may lie!
Goal Setting is a MUST
Now that you know what you want (in a broad sense), it’s time to figure out how to get there by setting some goals. Think of goals like stepping stones across a river mouth, without them you’ll never get to the other side.
Now, plenty of people claim to set goals. And, I guess in a sense, they are better than nothing. But, most people have never been taught how to actually set a goal that is both achievable and beneficial to their end plan.
I’m talking goals like:
- “I’m gonna be rich”
- “I will be fit”
- “I’m going to read that book”
You get the gist. The problem with these goals is that they are more of a dream than an actionable goal. It’s very hard to say “I’m gonna be rich” and then all of sudden be rich.
Instead, you need to set goals that move you closer to the dream each and every day. These are what we call SMART Goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. These types of goals are perfect for creating a plan to get to your dream.
To learn how to create SMART Goals and get to that dream life, check out this post.
Road Map Your Future
Alrighty, so you’ve got a few big dreams floating around in your head, you know how to create SMART Goals and you’ve set a few that align with those dreams. Now it’s time to create that plan!
Basically, I want you to draw or write down the dreams you visualised as their own individual destinations.
Now, take the SMART Goals that you set for each of those and order them by soonest to furthest away. Pretty much, which goals can you achieve now, and which do you have to wait to achieve?
Have the dream at the end, order the goals out before it and you’ll start to see somewhat of a road map appearing!
Congrats! You now have a plan for your future and all it took was maybe 30 minutes…
As an example, here’s one of my ‘Future Me’ Road Maps:
Small Steps vs. Big Leaps
I just want to touch on a side topic here real quick… the difference between taking small steps every day versus big leaps every now and again.
If you know anything about compound interest, you’ll understand that small amounts of money now can result in huge sums of cash in the future.
The same goes for your future. Small actions each day that is relevant to your end goal will start to compound and turn into significant progress over time.
A few large leaps of action every now and again will help you progress too, but it needs the support of the everyday habits that you establish to keep the progress going.
Think of it like this:
When building a house, you don’t just nail some timber together, throw the windows and roof on, and then paint it…
You need to set up a slab, create a strong foundation under the house, implement support beams in weak areas, and then get to work on the big features.
Same goes with life. You can’t expect to take massive action that brings you closer to your dream without having the right foundation to encourage and support those massive steps.
If those analogies don’t work for you, think of it like a snowball:
It starts real small, gradually picking up tiny particles of snow as it rolls downhill.
The more snow it picks up, the bigger it becomes and the more momentum it creates. Until eventually the snowball is so big that it can’t be stopped and will continue to roll on its own (until it melts).
Small action every day adds to the momentum you are building until eventually, those actions become habit and the steps you take become more profound.
Patience
Last of all, don’t forget to be patient!
Good things come to those who wait. And, now that you have a plan, if you continue to reach the goals you set and always aim higher, eventually you’ll get to where you want to be.
The biggest two assets you have are your mind and time. Put them together and you’ll see results you never thought possible…
Final Word
You’re now heaps further ahead than pretty much 80% of people your age! You have a dream for your future and you’ve set achievable goals to help you get there.
Now when you finish school (or even if you’ve already finished), you’ll be able to enjoy the time off, the celebrations and the shenanigans, knowing exactly what comes next and how you’re gonna get there!
Reminder: The next step DOESN’T have to be study, heck you could travel for the rest of your life if you want to (and find a way to monetise it). Just choose the path that makes the most sense for what you want out of life!
Another Reminder: I can almost promise you that the goals you set now and the dreams you visualise today will change dramatically over the course of the next 10 years, and that’s okay! It’s normal for your future to change over time, it’s called progression. As you learn more about yourself and the world around you, things that you want will change and you’ve got to be okay with that. The important thing is that you have a plan, regardless of how accurate it turns out to be!
Some other posts that might help you figure things out:
- How to Find the Uni Degree of Your Dreams
- How To Turn Your Dreams Into Reality
- Your Proven Guide to the Perfect Work-Life Balance
- How to Improve Your Marks by Studying Less
Until next week,
Uncle N.