Do you follow a life plan?

Recently I have been researching different professional industries and it's suddenly become apparent how important it is to have a plan. It's embarrassing not having one or knowing how to build a realistic one. Do you follow a plan in life? If so how do you structure/design everything?

No. I found that available jobs kind of dictated my future. I wanted to have a career in electronics. I worked in electronics in the military. I got out and everybody was laying people off. By the time that field started improving my pay was above what I could start at and I was tired of starting all over again. So, I never venture back into electronics. However, it is now one of my main hobbies.

The current financial problems aren't new. We have large financial problems every decade or so. I've been through several. However, now instead of fixing the problems we just spend our way past the situation and never real accomplish anything except devaluing the dollar. So, the future looks like honeysuckle no matter what. Try to enjoy life because in the end that's all that really matters.

But, I think it's awesome that you are thinking about planning your future. IMO, plan for a career that appears to be bulletproof. The medical field appears to be a good selection if you don't mind being hung out to dry when a pandemic hits. Ha! ha!

Finished said:

No. I found that available jobs kind of dictated my future. I wanted to have a career in electronics. I worked in electronics in the military. I got out and everybody was laying people off. By the time that field started improving my pay was above what I could start at and I was tired of starting all over again. So, I never venture back into electronics. However, it is now one of my main hobbies.

The current financial problems aren't new. We have large financial problems every decade or so. I've been through several. However, now instead of fixing the problems we just spend our way past the situation and never real accomplish anything except devaluing the dollar. So, the future looks like honeysuckle no matter what. Try to enjoy life because in the end that's all that really matters.

But, I think it's awesome that you are thinking about planning your future. IMO, plan for a career that appears to be bulletproof. The medical field appears to be a good selection if you don't mind being hung out to dry when a pandemic hits. Ha! ha!

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That's a shame, sorry your field didn't work out for you. At least you get to keep it as something fun to do. And it's strange where all these financial disasters are coming from. '00 - dot com crash, '08 - recession, '20 coronavirus. 2030 will be an alien invasion or worse.

But I find planning ahead and having something in my mind to follow so much more satisfying than "winging it" day to day. Learning how to plan and research though takes hours every day. The medical field is probably one of the most difficult industries to get into considering the grades and education you need. Is there any such thing as a bulletproof career?

Plan formation  depends on whether you are forced into a certain type of job because of "just survival" and working what jobs that are available. Some people just do not have the luxury of planning for their future goals nor do they have a support system that shares good example and knowledge of the different types of jobs and even knowledge about educational opportunities...Theory is one thing but actually accomplishing a goal that is planned depends on a lot of different conditions at the time.  One can have goals but to get in a situation to obtain those goals is very hard unless you are one of the fortunate people with secure family growing up and access to different aspects of professions and educational opportunities. Theory is one thing but actively dong it is another..

The nice thing for young people nowadays is access to so more information. The more information available the better planning will work out. As a youngster, I didn't realize there were so many different jobs out there. I spent way too much time in retail because that was what was near me. I was also very rigid about where to live. I just thought I grew up here so I should live here. Yes, my world has always been very small. Other then the military, I've lived in the same 10 mile area for nearly all of my life. I work very well with what I have and change is difficult for me. But, I do think I wasted much of my life because of it.

I don't really make plans. I have general goals I'm going for, but no real plans on accomplishing them. I have found that, for me, plans just tend to get in the way and never get followed. Focusing too much on tomorrow could make you miss what's good about today.
With life in general, I know where I want to be headed and I make sure I stay on that path, even if there are a few detours along the way.
With career, I enjoy what I do now, but it's not what I *really* want to do. I haven't given up on making it to where I want to be, plans slightly altered, of course and I'll get there someday, but I'm okay with where I am right now.

Not anymore all my plans and some of my dreams where either squashed or went out the window about ten years ago.  I have things I want to do and probably will do, but it will take a bit of time that I can't plan for.

Career wise I want to do more, bit a few hurdles stopping me currently.  I do wonder if I have the energy to follow what I really want to do now.

Serenia said:

Not anymore all my plans and some of my dreams where either squashed or went out the window about ten years ago.  I have things I want to do and probably will do, but it will take a bit of time that I can't plan for.

Career wise I want to do more, bit a few hurdles stopping me currently.  I do wonder if I have the energy to follow what I really want to do now.

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I think this is the best reason to have plans - they help accomplish dreams and overcome the hurdles that lie in their way. Planning isn't about having lots of energy, it's about using what you have to the best advantage. Life does what it feels like though. It's like a giant invulnerable toddler seeing something and crushing it for fun. You can't reason with it, you can't fight it, and it takes great satisfaction in doing everything it likes, fresia you life.

TheRealCallie said:

I don't really make plans.  I have general goals I'm going for, but no real plans on accomplishing them.  I have found that, for me, plans just tend to get in the way and never get followed.  Focusing too much on tomorrow could make you miss what's good about today. 
With life in general, I know where I want to be headed and I make sure I stay on that path, even if there are a few detours along the way. 
With career, I enjoy what I do now, but it's not what I *really* want to do.  I haven't given up on making it to where I want to be, plans slightly altered, of course and I'll get there someday, but I'm okay with where I am right now.

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If you're already where you want to be generally and can generally get around, then a directive plan would probably not offer much - you sound like you already have a pretty grounded understanding of your trajectory anyway. 

Finished said:

The nice thing for young people nowadays is access to so more information. The more information available the better planning will work out. As a youngster, I didn't realize there were so many different jobs out there. I spent way too much time in retail because that was what was near me. I was also very rigid about where to live. I just thought I grew up here so I should live here. Yes, my world has always been very small. Other then the military, I've lived in the same 10 mile area for nearly all of my life. I work very well with what I have and change is difficult for me. But, I do think I wasted much of my life because of it.

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That's a really good point. There is a lot of information out there now. But there is also the problem of navigation. Back in the old days, you could open up a phone book for the same information. Today, you must suffer a lot of noise and distractions, and just HAVING the internet doesn't automatically pass on the skill of using it the most efficiently. You have to really sit down, interrogate google, fight its marketing, and get to the meat of the information. This is no mean task.

For instance, part of my research concentrates on gaining an understanding of the recruitment world. This is best done online. Every recruitment website has a popup or similar of the following: a cookie request, a COVID-19 announcement, a newsletter request, a marketing video, a marketing request, a popup if your cursor leaves their window: "Meet the Team!" "Sign up!" "Send your resume now!" Beyond that, there is aggressive marketing and annoying digital gimmicks such as changing the cursor, scrollbar, throwing animations in your face, or elaborately redesigning the menubar with cute slogans in large type: "Find your DREAM job. Right now." or: "no BS. no gimmicks. just jobs." You finally reach their search portal, and the majority will be advertising a handful of positions.

There are now many thousands of agencies, so you must repeat this process many, many times. The expectations of your interactions if you approach the agency must also be of a high standard. You can't just say "I'm a gas engineer/UX designer/utility planner and looking for work." You must say, "Hi, I LOVE your company. You sound great. I have a great background in my skillset, studied at an Ivy League college and I'm looking for my next, GREAT challenge. I want this, this, this and this." Don't forget the picture perfect, tailored resume, with an excellent personal statement detailing how you saved your previous employers money (you DID do that, didn't you?)

It has become somewhat easier, and somewhat harder. You wouldn't be different than most people by staying in your own location; you are comfortable with your culture, history, relationships and expectations. You'd prefer being known and settled than to being a stranger. There's nothing wrong with that at all, there is more to gain and less to risk. If you truly believed there were better opportunities out there, you would have automatically pursued them. You would not have had any doubt. Who would?

priscella said:

Plan formation  depends on whether you are forced into a certain type of job because of "just survival" and working what jobs that are available. Some people just do not have the luxury of planning for their future goals nor do they have a support system that shares good example and knowledge of the different types of jobs and even knowledge about educational opportunities...Theory is one thing but actually accomplishing a goal that is planned depends on a lot of different conditions at the time.  One can have goals but to get in a situation to obtain those goals is very hard unless you are one of the fortunate people with secure family growing up and access to different aspects of professions and educational opportunities. Theory is one thing but actively dong it is another..

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There are many problems with life planning and you identify them well. If you combine each, there's no benefit to planning. But if you'd break them down individually, isolate accordingly, and concentrate on them, you would reach a different conclusion.

Yes there is the problem of survival in life. In my early 20's I was homeless. I worked out of it but fell into a pattern of gigging with stabs at education. It's my mid thirties and still can't get out of it. There was always an adolescent hope that a peer would take me on and save me from my fecklessness. There is no one coming to rescue me so who is gonna save me now?

I can get by myself fine. You can't do anything in isolation though. If meaning came from "ourselves" we'd all be alone, finding it. That is the treatment we give criminals when we send them to ADX Florence or Guantanamo Bay. You isolate a person when you want to punish them.

There is some satisfaction from falling into a repetitive pattern of emergency, rescue, emergency, and so on. After a while it's tedious. People want to say, "Well a job is a job" To me, that's not enough - you're leaving the possession of your own future in the hands of others.

There's also the real problem of people who got into their careers because they knew someone. This is like that big toddler crashing around. They are all power, no brains, or worse they have some brains. These are people who require the loyalty and commitment of an aristocracy on the inside and plain ol' wild friendship on the outside.

Your post is from a downtrodden perspective and I haven't addressed half of it in my post. It's good to read and think about, I might come back with more to it later.

I can't wait to hear the other half when you get time to write about it...Interesting post and interesting prospective---but when you talk about the word "down trodden" it would be nice if you were one of them in order to understand and not just be poor. Thank you for a interesting and well thought out posting. priscella

The best of plans... and all that.

One day at a time... smaller disappointments.