A 5 year plan template is a tool that helps you in knowing yourself better. With the help of planning template, you can know what you want and what you aspire for. It tells you where you want to be in five years and how you will get there.
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What is a 5-year plan?
A 5-year plan is a planning tool containing your personal or professional goals that you want to achieve within the next 5 years. This document contains broad goals that are relevant to career, relationships, health, and finances. These goals are divided into action items and milestones.
What to include in a 5-year plan?
Include the following key elements in your 5-year plan;
- Executive summary: your plan’s all actions summary)
- Elevator pitch: a precise description of your business for important stakeholders)
- Mission statement: internally, it assists employees in aligning their efforts with the overall goal of the company. At an external level, it encourages third parties to take actions to support you.
- SWOT analysis: it assists you in identifying the areas that you have to establish to improve your company.
- Particular short and long terms goals
- KPIs: Key Performance Indicators that indicates the performance of your business.
- Target customers: determine the requirements of your target customers group
- Industry analysis
- Competitive analysis and benefit: identify your key competitors, their strengths, and their weaknesses in order to identify your current competitive benefit.
- Marketing Plan
- Team: specify your current team members and the people that you want to hire in the future.
- Operation plans
- Financial projections
- Timeline: the tasks and milestones that have major impact on the project, explain them.
What is the purpose of a 5 year plan?
Creating a 5-year plan provides you an edge over those who don’t think regarding their future goals or plans.
- A 5-year plan makes you able to make improvements in your life. The 5-year plan for life eliminates distractions as it provides you an opportunity to dig deeper and determine what is essential to you. After that, you can scrap everything else that is not. The plan also provides you the opportunity to take accountability for your own goals.
- A 5-year strategic plan template is very effective due to its characteristics. The plan helps you in keeping your “eyes-on-the-prize.” It provides you an overview of the next five years. Therefore, it doesn’t look like a mystery or worse. It should look like the routine you have been a slave to for the past five years.
- This plan is more than just a to-do-list or a calendar as they only focus on short-term goals. Five years is an adequate timespan. They reflect realistic and effective changes within yourself. In your personal and professional life, it can allow significant growth.
Why 5 years?
A 5 year plan template provides you ample time to “lay down the tracks.” This will assist you in reaching the more important achievements and milestones you want to achieve without having to resort to procrastination. It’s a lot easier to get distracted by short-term goals as you may surmise.
Moreover, you should take a longer view if you want to take the more challenging road. In selecting this, you have to use your creativity. You should have adequate boldness to dedicate and envision yourself to the life that you aspire for. You also have a comprehensive plan to make this life your reality.
You should create your plan as you mature and evolve. It helps you in maintaining focus on your long-term goals. The growth and progress is the end game in using the plan. It should make you able to create the life that you want with laser-focus and aim.
How to write a 5-year career plan?
Follow the below steps to make your 5-year career plan;
Consider your career goals and write them down
At first, you have to make an assessment of your professional life and identify the things that you want to achieve. Think where you want to be in the five years’ time. The things that you know you’re good at and you enjoy doing, write them all. What part of your work provides you the most enjoyment? At what parts, you have the greatest interest in? If you find a role that seems interesting or one that you find enjoyable, you can easily move forward in your career.
Make a list of your skills that can assist you in achieving your career goals
The skills, experiences, and abilities that you currently possess, you know them. You should make an assessment of these traits. Identify whether or not they can help you in achieving the career goals you’ve set.
For example, you have a great interest in becoming a graphic designer. But, there are different kinds of software you can’t use. This indicates that you require training if you want to reach your goals. Regarding your current skills and the skills that you should learn in order to advance, you have to be very honest with them.
You should also have plan how to gain knowledge. This will help you in achieving your goals. Incorporate the training while writing your plan as well as education that is required to develop the necessary skills for your advancement.
Split your goals into smaller and more attainable goals
You can now start writing down your plan after gathering all the data for your 5-year plan template. It may seem to be out of reach while looking at a 5-year plan in its entirety. You can break things down into simpler steps that are more attainable. This assists you in seeing more clearly how much progress you’ve made. Thus, in return, keep you motivated.
Actively seek out opportunities
Now, after finishing your plan, you can start finding out opportunities where you can gain experience. There are generally two ways of doing this;
- Within your company, look for opportunities: there is no need to be afraid to talk to your employer regarding any skills that you want to learn or improve. Instead of this, find ways where you can gain relevant and specific experiences.
- In other companies, look for opportunities: find out other opportunities in different organizations, in case you feel you are not getting the support you need or the opportunities aren’t available to you.
Keep going back to your 5-year plan
You should view your progress on daily basis if you want to succeed in achieving your goals. Take some time and review your plan to ensure that you’re on track in accomplishing both your minor goals and your 5-year goal. It can also be a time to make adjustments. This is particularly true if your career has taken you to unexpected places.
In case, you aren’t making any progress regarding your intended goals, then you should try to find out why. For feedback, don’t hesitate to ask your colleagues and friends. You should arrange a meeting with your employer to identify what you can do to work towards your long-term goals.
What are the advantages of making your own 5-year plan?
A 5-year plan template provides you clear image of your own personality, values, ambition, and more. You can assess your visions for the future with this planning template. Let us discuss below some more benefits of having this plan;
Learn more about yourself
Making a 5-year plan doesn’t mean that you have to adhere to it for the next five years. Instead of this, you can know more about yourself with this template. Also, you can identify who you are and who you want to be. Answer the following questions to discover your ambitions, vision, and values of the future;
- What you want to become in the future?
- What do you like to do?
- What do you want to achieve?
Establish long-term goals
You can identify your long-term goals after discovering the visions you have for the future and the aims that go with it. By having long-term goals, you can reach to the vision of the future that you have developed in your process of self-discovery. They acts as instructions to your end goal one step at a time.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, a 5 year plan template is an efficient tool that can help you in assessing your visions for the future. You can use this document to give insights into your own personality, values, ambition, and more.
