I CAN PREDICT YOUR NEXT FIVE YEARS!
That headline must have caught your attention and you are wondering how this young man wants to do so. Funnily enough, you might see yourself in this piece by the time I am through.
Note: This post is not for the mentally lazy ones. It is long.
I don’t like to talk much about my past maybe because of what I see the future has in stock for me. But then, I cannot tell the story of my today without mentioning a bit of my experience maybe two-three years ago. They all amounted to me of today and more to be in years to come.
Now, if you are asked, with a gun to your head, “Where do you see yourself five years from now?”, what would be your response? Remember, there is a gun to your head.
I bet your response would be so compelling enough to tell this intruder and seeming abrupter of your breath that you have got ‘big’ plans — plans of how you are poor now and want to become rich and help your parents and how you want to help other people and how you want to change Nigeria and so on… Trust me, in 60 seconds, without a second thought, these ‘plans’ will be spilling through your lips.
Funnily enough, this wouldn’t be your reply or better still, not so soon would it come if a person throws that same question to you without a gun to your head.
Funny but true!
Does it mean that people really think fast only when there is a signal of danger or threat?
Maybe that is a thought we would demystify some other day.
Back to the message of this post.
Do you think that I can reveal your next five years to you? Do you think I can predict your state of existence in the next five years?
Yes, I can!
Growing up, I learnt that I had my life to live. I wasn’t sure if I was told this directly but life circumstances have a way of passing such message just with a ‘slight’ blow. Mine was losing someone dear to me. I began to think and ask questions I felt I shouldn’t be asking at my age. I started doing things I felt I shouldn’t be doing. Funnily enough, one of the questions I asked myself was: “Where do you see yourself five years from now?”
It might amaze you to know that these were my responses in 2015:
Finish my studies
Get a work
Get married.
Full stop!
_I am actually laughing at these responses. I can’t believe myself either._
What happened? What changed? Why did my list become expanded now? Why wasn’t I limiting myself to those three points mentioned earlier anymore?
There was a movement.
I call it the MINDSET TRAJECTORY
The paradigms you set in life are exactly what controls your life. It is the scale with which your life will be measured.
In 2018, my five-year-plan changed. It was no more a 3-point agenda. This time, it was more of goals with mini-goals. The vision was expanded and the scale with which my life was supposed to be measured was also changed.
I wasn’t limited to my thoughts as of 2015 anymore instead, my mindset opened its arms to accommodate bigger and life-changing actionable goals.
As long as your mindset is yet to experience a trajectory, your next five years will be similar to one without a substantial goal. You will step into it looking empty, worn-out, lost, purposeless, and in doubt of who you are.
If your mindset is still locked to information and knowledge as mine was in 2015, then your next five years will be a playback of how you’ve lived without a clear vision and will still live that way that year.
How then can you alter this prediction?
Seek a TRAJECTORY in your MINDSET!
Take time to ask yourself that same question and imagine that a gun is placed to your forehead. Begin to give the answers!
You will feel pressured and hot, right?
Yes! That is how it should be.
Your lips will be shaking and your knees trembling. You will begin to think fast. By now, a lot of ‘big’ ideas are flooding your head. Now, write them down. Take note of them.
Read on!
Now, imagine that the gun is still on your head and your saving grace is you executing those ‘big’ goals in your jotter. That is where the work is — Execution!
Should that gun be laid on the table, would you do all that you said you will do and achieve in five years?
This is where the main issue lies!
Only a few people who set actionable goals for their next five years really take action on their goals. Others are waiting for someone to push them before they can take action. No-no!
In life, no one has to push you. No one even has to place a gun to your head before you can say what your next five years will be like. No one has to put you under pressure before you can begin to strive to make the best out of your life.
Push yourself.
Place a gun to your head and begin to act.
This is not just for you but for the generation yet unborn to your name. What would your next 5,10,15,20 years tell?
Figure that out today and ensure you strive to make things work. Don’t sleep and wait for life to happen. Take a step and draft the map with which you want to navigate life.
_Footnote:_
I can only predict a future without purpose. I cannot predict YOUR future. If you actually saw yourself described in this content, then something is wrong. Take action.
Your future cannot be navigated by anyone except you. You alone have the power to do so.
Use that power right!
Again, ask yourself:
“Where do I see myself five years from now?”
I am your friend Convydence
