Hi friends,

What do you want your life or your career or your partnership or your living arrangement to look like in 5 years? If you are really clear about the impact you want to make or the kind of people you want to surround yourself with in 2-5 years, then you can create a plan and a list of intentions from that point in the future backwards. So your thought horizon is: what today looks like --> what 5 years from now looks like --> what the interim should look like.

You don't need certainty about the future to do this kind of "future--back" planning. You just need clarity about your values and your desired state and a great deal of flexibility around the "how" of reaching that desired state.

I recently listened to a fascinating episode podcast Your Brain at Work, put out by the NeuroLeadership Institute. The guest, Bob Johansen, a Distinguished Fellow at the Institute for the Future, spoke about our time horizon for change and whether we plan from our point in time now and aiming for a desired future, OR, whether we figure out what we want the future to look like and then plan backwards from that.

Johansen was speaking about business leaders planning for major changes, or preparing for major changes to come upon them, but this notion of planning from the future resonates with me as a great life and career planning tool, as well.

Have a fabulous long weekend,

Jennifer