Why you should know where you’ll be in five years.

Have you ever wondered why employers ask you during a job interview where you “see” yourself in five years? Have you thought that this was a “stupid” question, a “throw away” type question or just something to “get the conversation rolling”? And, did you find yourself role playing and preparing an answer for this “five year” question prior to an interview so that you’d have a canned answer or did you find yourself pondering on it and come up with several “adequate” answers?

From my experience, I don’t think it really had a bearing on whether I was hired or not. I also believe that at least 95 percent of those asked and 95 percent of those asking don’t have a clue as to why we should ask this question and why we need to have an answer, a very clear answer at that. I will share exactly why everyone needs to know where they will “be” (have, do and be) in five years; and even longer.

First I share this story. A man asks his friend what his son is taking in college. The man said “space”; he was taking up space. No the man said, trying to clarify. What will he be when he gets out, he asked. To this the man replied older. The man knew that his son did not know where he wanted to “be” after college. (I use the word “be” because we will not just “be” in a year, five years or more, but we will also “have” and “do”. Depending on our plans and the actions we take to see those plans become reality will determine just what we will “be”, what we will “have” and what we will be able to “do”).

Here’s the answer. We need to “see” where we’ll be in five years, or it won’t happen. We will just be a wondering generality. We will go from home to work, home to work 5 or 6 times a week (or more if we have several jobs) and in five years end up like the friend’s son in the story; older.

As one of my mentors Jim Rohn states, if we see a man laying bricks and ask him what he’s building and if the man says, I don’t know; I’m just putting these bricks here and see what becomes of it, we would think that this man has lost any sense that he ever had. One must first see the building built (your five year goal), completed, before you can build it. See your goal; see it in your mind’s eye and on paper and then build it.

What are you building today?

Ter Scott is a Life and Legacy Coach ™. You can contact him and see related materials at: www.terscott.com/lifepurpose.