Do You Have a Ten Year Plan?

Every morning my company sends out an e-mail entitled ‘Healthy Tip”. It contains one tip ranging from diet, exercise, self-care, family, finances and more. Today’s topic was “Making a Ten Year Goal.” I love articles like this, and it gave some great tips.

First, ten years is a long time. It may be a bit overwhelming to think of it all at once. The article suggested breaking it down into smaller goals, similar to what I described in my Goals vs. Resolution post earlier this year. Each goal should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-defined. Each goal should be a building block to your long-term goal. For example, my ten-year plan is to be retired, living a half a year in Topsail, North Carolina and half the year back home in Boston, traveling throughout. There are steps I need to take to make that plan come to fruition. For example, to retire early, I need to be maxing out my 401k. I want to have a second stream of income, so I don’t have to rely on my retirement income solely. To have a second stream of income, I need to monetize this blog. How am I going to do that? I write down my goals for monetizing the blog and work toward those. I need to find and save for a beach house. What are the steps I need to take reach that goal. The list goes on and on, keeping in mind the big picture, my 10-year plan.

Now it is your turn, have you thought about your ten-year plan? What steps have you taken to achieve your goal?