Designing your life can seem intimidating. It’s easy to think that creating an awesome life is something only “big thinkers” or successful people focus on.
But you have the power to design your life too. You don’t need money or a platform to do it. All you need is direction — a simple plan — and the willingness to follow through.
Enter your 5-year plan.
Far too often, we exist through life without thinking about what we want our future to look like. We wake up each day, go to work or school, do our responsibilities, go to sleep, and repeat. Rinse and repeat. We stay stagnant or feel lost.
But when you pause your busy life and spend a little time planning your life out, you give yourself focus. You give yourself direction. Most of all, you give yourself purpose.
In this guide, I will teach you how to create a simple, effective life plan that will set you up for success for the next five years (and beyond!). Creating a life plan isn’t complicated. In fact, it’s quite simple. But it does require a few honest steps. By the end of this article, you will learn how to set yourself up to achieve massive goals by taking small steps every day. Most importantly, you will learn how to feel confident in controlling your future instead of just letting life happen to you.
Recommended: Setting Goals: A Guide for Success
What Exactly Is a 5-Year Plan and Why Do You Need One?
A 5-year plan is a straightforward road map that allows you to establish where you want to be in five years and how you will get there. A 5-year plan can help you design your goals in different areas of your life: Career, Health, Relationships, Finance, Learning, and Personal Growth.
Without a plan or direction, you can find yourself wasting time on things that may feel urgent but aren’t important. You jump from hobby to hobby or job to job and never really feel fulfilled by anything you do.
But with a plan, you will live with intention. You will stop guessing what you should do with your life and start creating the life you want to live.
Studies have shown that people who set long-term goals are more motivated and have a higher success rate. In one study published in Psychological Bulletin, researchers found that setting specific goals led to increased performance and commitment.
Step 1: Start with Your Vision
The first step is to envision your ideal life 5 years from now. Step 1 is all about vision, which means what comes before planning. If you don’t know your vision, you can’t create the plan.
Grab a piece of paper and journal answers to these questions:
Where will I be in five years?
What type of lifestyle will I have?
What will I be doing?
How will I feel physically? Emotionally?
What people will be in my life?
How will I have helped others?
Don’t worry about how you answer these questions. There are no right or wrong answers here. Visioning is a personal exercise. Vision your life how you want to see it.
Journal in broad strokes using plain language. If you could wake up tomorrow and your life was perfect, what would that look like? What time would you wake up? What would excite you? What would you feel proud of?
You don’t need to have every detail of your future mapped out. You just need to know what direction you’d like to head in.
Recommended: 8 Habits of People Who Always Reach Their Goals
Step 2: Divide Your Vision by Areas of Life
Life is made up of many facets. If you focus too much on one area of your life (like your job), you can become out of balance with other important areas of your life like health or relationships.
Divide your vision into these categories:
Career or work
Health and wellness
Finance and money
Relationships
Learning or personal growth
Fun and recreation
Spiritual or inner life
Under each category, ask yourself:
Where am I at today?
What do I want to have or who do I want to become in 5 years?
Write down the absolute truth, even if you are just starting your career and want to be a manager in five years. Maybe you want more energy and strength throughout your body. Maybe you want deeper connections with your friends and loved ones. Identify what you want.
Honesty is the foundation of true growth.
Recommended: 8 Things You Should Never Feel Bad for Doing
Step 3: Create Specific, Measurable Goals
Alright! Now that you know what you want. Let’s get specific! Turn your desires into measurable goals.
Instead of saying “I want to be healthy,” ask yourself, “How will I know if I am healthy?”
“I will exercise 30 minutes per day 5 days per week.”
Instead of “I want to make more money.”
“I will save $10,000 over the next five years.”
Make your goals as specific as possible.
Researcher Dr. Gail Matthews at Dominican University conducted a study that showed those who wrote down their goals and shared them with someone were more likely to achieve them than those who made no plan at all.
Write 1–3 goals for each category of your life. Keep it simple so you don’t feel overwhelmed.
Step 4: Break It Down by Year
Congratulations! You now know what you want to achieve in life in five years. But how will you get there?
Let’s break these goals down by year. If your 5-year goal is to own your own business, it may look something like this:
Year 1: Research my business idea and start saving money.
Year 2: Take any classes I need to further my knowledge.
Year 3: Create my product or service and test it on friends.
Year 4: Build my brand and market it to potential customers.
Year 5: Go full-time!
Take each of your big goals and break them down by what you need to do each year to accomplish your goal.
Your life plan is not set in stone. Things will change and that’s OK! Allow your plan to adapt as you grow.
Step 5: Break Year One Down Into Monthly Action Steps
We have finally reached the most important part. The part where you take action.
You have your big goals for each area of your life for the next five years. Now we want to break down what you need to do this year.
You don’t need to have your calendar perfectly mapped out. But you do need to know what step to take next.
If one of your goals is to be healthy, it may look something like this:
Month 1: Walk every morning
Month 2: Sign up and start going to a gym
Month 3: Learn how to meal prep healthy foods at home
Month 4: Track my sleep schedule
Think of small action steps that you can take each month to make your goals feel more achievable. Stop pushing your goals off to someday. Start taking steps today.
Try using a physical planner or calendar to map out your months. Or use an app like Google Calendar. Find someone you trust and tell them your plans. Ask them if they can check in with you once a month to keep you accountable.
How to Adjust Your Plan When Life Happens
I like to think of your five-year life plan as a living document. Your plan is here to support you and your growth. There will be times in your life when things don’t go as planned. You might change careers, move to a different city, fall in love, or experience death.
These events happen. It’s called life. If something changes in your life, take a look at your life plan and:
Ask yourself what you still value.
Make changes to your plan if your heart desires.
Just because something changes in your life doesn’t mean you failed at your plan. Life changes are how we learn and adapt new information.
How to Keep Yourself Motivated
Motivation is something we tend to lose over time. You may feel excited and willing to work on your goals one month only to feel sluggish and uninterested the next.
It’s normal to feel defeated or unfocused at times. We are all human.
Here are some tips to help you stay motivated:
Remind yourself why you started.
Reflect on how far you’ve already come.
Celebrate the small victories.
Rest when you need to. Don’t feel guilty for taking a break.
Talk to someone who will encourage you.
Keep your plan somewhere you will see it every day. On your wall. Stick it in your bullet journal. Keep it on your phone.
You aren’t meant to be perfect. You are only human. Take things one day at a time and before you know it, you will have created an awesome life for yourself.
Closing Thoughts
Designing your life is truly one of the best gifts you can give yourself. Life doesn’t just happen to you anymore. You slowly start to shift from letting life happen to you, to taking actions that decide what happens in your life. You evolve from waiting for your dreams to come true to making your dreams a reality. Your life goes from feeling chaotic to feeling empowered.
It doesn’t matter if you feel stuck in your career, relationships, health, or any area of your life. Creating a life plan allows you to tune into what you truly want, and take steps to get there.
Your life plan is your roadmap on how to get there. Now it’s time to start walking your path with intention.
Remember, you don’t have to have every step of your life planned out. You just have to take the first step. And the next. Until before you know it, you’ve designed a life you actually love living.
The next five years are going to happen whether you create a plan for your life or not. Why not live them to the fullest?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a 5-year life plan?
A 5-year life plan is a roadmap that helps you clarify where you want to be in five years and outlines the steps needed to get there.
Do I need to have my entire future figured out to make a plan?
No. You only need a general direction. Your plan can change and adapt as you grow.
What areas of life should a 5-year plan include?
A balanced plan often includes career, health, finances, relationships, personal growth, and overall well-being.
What if my goals change over time?
That’s normal. A 5-year plan is meant to be flexible and adjusted as life happens and priorities shift.
Save the pin for later
