Have you ever wondered “WHAT ARE MY NEXT STEPS?” I and many people I know have asked ourselves this question (some, many times). For example, I was in a role at a company I loved but I was not sure how to advance. I felt stuck. I didn’t know how to advance other than by leaving, but why would I leave a place I loved to work? We’re often feeling stress, burnout, tension, and a roller-coaster ride of emotions when we’re asking ourself that question — “What are My Next Steps?”. We might be satisfied but not fulfilled. We know we can do more, we WANT to do more, or want more of … something. But how do we get THERE? And WHERE is THERE?
Future-Back Planning
One approach I use comes from my experience in scenario and strategic planning and is sometimes called “Future-Back Planning”. It helps us to create a roadmap forward toward our objectives. How does this work? One approach is summarized below. It is designed to get us to think about where we want to go and then what we need to experience, to learn, or to do to get there. The first part is critical as it helps create our target vision. As the Cheshire Cat told Alice , if you don’t know where you want to get to, then it doesn’t matter which path you take.
I invite you to use the attached template as a guide as you follow along.
Step 1: Creating Your Vision
- The first step is to get in touch with your aspirational future-self. Where do you want to get to. You can do this as an individual or as a team. You will need to think about yourself 5, 10, 20 or more years in the future. If this seems hard, start with a draft — all plans change and evolve, so write something down – it’s a first draft. It might not be perfect and that’s ok. There are many ways to do this and you can find a few described in my posts, or reach out and I can help you. You can use the Wheel-of-Life Vision template and process to help. Tap into your greater purpose, use your values to help identify the guardrails to fulfillment.
- How would you answer theses questions: What do you really want, how do you want to be, what do you want to do, what impact will you have? How do you see yourself contributing your gifts and strengths to yourself, to your family and community, to the world? Again, if this seems hard, it is and that’s — start with a draft — all plans change and evolve, so take a first attempt and write something down. It isn’t often you get to time travel and see your life in the future.
- If you downloaded the template, write down this vision of your future-self, your aspirational goals in the far right column of the template. If it helps, break this out across the categories of Personal, Professional and Learning/Spiritual/Community, Other. You can also invent your own categories if these do not resonate with you. This is your vision of and for your future-self. If this seems hard, start with a first draft. After you write it, re-read it. How does it make you feel. What about it makes it aspirational for you? What about it feels important for the world, exciting for you and a little scary because of the challenge you’ll have achieving it?
Step 2: Setting Your Planning Block Timeframe
- Now that you have this written down, it’s time to think about your planning blocks. These are the timeframes you will use to map out your journey. A metaphor for this might be a 5-day vacation you are planning and each day is a planning block. For example, if your vision is for 40 years from now, a good planning block length might be 10 years. If your vision is for 10 years from now, 2-3 years might be your planning block. If your vision is for one year from now your planning block might be 12-weeks (or you might want to go back and see if looking further out is helpful) . Once you have decided on the length of your planning blocks you are ready to begin creating your Future-Back Plan. If this seems hard, start with a first draft. There is no right or wrong.
- You can always come back and change this as your thoughts and experiences evolve. This is your vision for your future-self (at this time).
Step 3: Penultimate Step in Your Journey and Turning Back Time
- You now have your vision for your future-self and you have the timeframe for each step on the journey. When you are ready, read again your future-self vision. Really feel yourself in that vision. Now look at the details that got you to this future-self. First look at the years that immediately preceded what you wrote for your vision. What experiences, knowledge, and roles did you have that contributed to you being able to get to your your future-self? What were you doing in those years prior, how were you with yourself, your family, your team, your community. What impacts were you making during this part of your life that led to your future-self vision? Write these down in a column to the left of the column where you wrote your future-self vision. If this seems hard, start with a first draft, you can always come back and adjust. Remember there is no right or wrong. You should now have the last two steps of your journey toward your future-self vision.
- Next, repeat the above for the earlier 2 planning blocks (groups of years)that led to the above. For each, think about what experiences, knowledge, roles you will have needed to have in the years just before that contributed to you being able to get to your next place. What were you doing in those years prior, how were you with yourself, your family, your team, your community. What impacts were you making during this part of your life? What experiences and knowledge were you accumulating? Write these down in 2 columns to the left of the two you already completed. If this seems hard, start with a first draft.
- You should now have 4 steps in your journey toward your future-self vision.
Step 4: Today-Forward — Your Next Steps
- Now you are ready to fill in the column for your Current-Self. Today. You are now ready to plan out your Next Steps. To get to your next stage (as defined in your next planning block) what experiences do you need to have, what knowledge will help you? What relationships will you invest in? What relationships will you end or lower your investment in? What can you do to accomplish this? What do you want to do to accomplish this? If this seems hard, break it down into baby-steps. If you are stuck, just write a first draft. Again, there is no right or wrong answer (except for illegal activities). You can always come back and modify this as you evolve.
CONGRATULATIONS!!
You now have a roadmap to help you step toward your future self. You have identified things you can and want to do to step forward into your next phase and those that follow. By giving yourself a planning timeframe you can seek out opportunities that support your journey. A good practice is to sleep on it and come back and see how it feels. Re-read your vision. Think about how it supports your purpose and how it aligns and honors your values. Modify and evolve it so it feels right. Re-read each step of your plan (from your vision back). How does it feel. What do you want to change? Remember there is no right or wrong. What works for some doesn’t work for others. This is your roadmap — you can always come back and revisit and fine tune. I keep mine in a document I update periodically.
Thank you for reading. We’d love to hear from you on your experience using the template and the process above. Please leave your comments below.