“I DON’T have a 10-year plan. Each thing I do should either get me money, influence, or independence. Ideally, all three.
Two weeks ago, a friend and I were casually discussing where we see ourselves in 10 years. It didn’t start with a specific question, but with a random prompt – which city do you want to be in when you grow up?
While talking about this, I realised that each scenario I described (work, personal, emotional), each dream that I smiled about, and each ‘vision’ that made me jump off my bed, came down to these: money, influence, and independence.
As a young adult, I don’t have a large plan laid out. Or even a 5 or 10-year goal. If it helps, even Sahil Bloom says he’s stopped doing this; mostly because his 5-year predictions were way off, haha.
And so, today, these three metrics, guidelines, or large categories (I can’t seem to find the right word!) help me stay on track.
1️⃣ MONEY – I want money for convenience. I need it to skip queues, stay in comfortable places, travel more (for leisure, opportunity and all the likes), get my mum the best things and experiences, and enable others to do brilliant things too.
2️⃣ INFLUENCE – this one’s dicey. Even in my head. Mostly because I see people in a place of power and influence misuse it. Or, worse, pretend to do the right thing. But, I want it. I want it in the form of an audience (so I can create a larger impact). And, I want it in the form of credibility and respect so my word has meaning and impact. I do worry though about staying on the right track. But, I think it’s a healthy worry. It keeps me in check!
3️⃣ INDEPENDENCE – of time and freedom. I want to be able to choose what I spend my time on. I want to be able to say no to things. I want to be able to say HELL YES to some. And, I want freedom. Actually, to be more precise, I want agency in my life. While most of this comes from money, it also helps to have clarity, confidence and common sense (haha).
Since then, I’ve also begun evaluating the things I spend time on through these lenses.
For instance, C4E helps me build a better network. I get to learn how to present myself in important rooms. It makes me a smarter, more aware individual.
I have more examples: building Decoding Draupadi, the opportunity to engage with founders and decision-makers early on, and experience with culture and hiring – all of these contribute to ‘influence’, ‘money’, and ‘independence’.
So, that.
P.S. Here’s a picture of one of the first desks from where I’ll make M, and achieve the other two Is.
#businessowners #womeninleadership #opportunity #work