patrick elder

I’ve never really sat down to think about where I want to be in 20 years. I’ve done a lot of things the past few years to achieve a better future, but for what exactly — I’m not sure. I know I want to be succesful and have a family I can provide for. That’s the least defined plan I thought I’d ever see for myself.

This rant stems from my close friend Steven trying to figure out his 20 year plan. We’ve had discussions about how he’d love to figure out how long to stay at his current job, and what he wants to achieve through it. You know, “does it fit into his plans” sort of stuff. Very legitimate questions I think everyone should ask themselves, but I have yet to ask myself. I always figured that finding out where I wanted to be in 5 years would help me achieve the 20 year goal. His mentor at work told him “..no, that’s a common mistake people make. Figure out your 20 year plan so you can narrow it to 10 years, 5 years, and so on…” That’s more or less a paraphrase, but my response was “Eureka!”. It makes clear sense.

Since then, I’ve been thinking about what it is that I would like to accomplish in 20 years. Some of those things include becoming a respected author in my field (software engineering … online), teaching others by simply sharing knowledge & have a succssful online healthcare company in San Francisco, CA. Perhaps a summer house in San Francisco would safice my need to be on the west coast rather than living there full time.

I look at what I’m doing now to see if aligns me towards my 20 year goal and ask, “Does this fit?”. Well, the clear answer is “Yes!”. I’m building online application for the niche healthcare industry, networking, being challenged in almost every aspect by 2 very knowledgable co-workers, and sharing my knowledge in a micro sense by sponsoring the Nashville Ruby on Rails Meetup.

Do I need my 20 year plan to be a bit more defined? Sure. However, i’ve challenged my thinking and know that what I’m currently doing in both my personal and professional life will get me there.

Now ask yourself, “Do I have a 20 year plan?” And, “Am I aligning myself in such a way that I’ll be able to reach those goals?”