Welcome back to Thank God It’s Monday!
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​tl;dr What is your five-year plan? What about your one-year plan? What actions do you need to take this week to give yourself the best chance of success?
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First and foremost, happy Memorial Day, and thank you to those who have given their lives for our freedom.
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Since you (likely) had a federal holiday day off today, what better time to consider your goals? In Adam Grant’s book, “Think Again,” he discusses how we ask kids what they want to be when they grow up, and how big a mistake it is. We frame it as if they have to choose one (with their limited knowledge of approximately 10 to 15 careers), and that when they get to that “destination,” their journey will be complete.
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Imagine staying at your first job for your entire career!? I started at a local deli as a cashier when I was 14, then worked at my uncle’s wine store, did some babysitting and tutoring during school, moved on to lifeguarding during the summers, and barbacked at Bar-Eat-O in college, eventually moving on to physical therapy aide, personal training, and EMT, all prior to becoming a PA. And that was all before I turned 30. (And hopefully another 30 years of growth and experimenting ahead!)
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But when we ask kids what they want to be, they start to believe that once they become a firefighter, a nurse, or a teacher, they’ve “made it,” as if it were some sort of destination they’ve arrived at.

Then what?
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The rest of the story usually follows something along the lines of growing a family, buying a house, investing in retirement, blah blah blah. But somewhere along the lines, people stop asking who we want to become.
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Maybe that’s because age expectancy has increased? Or maybe that’s because for our parents and our grandparents, that sort of life wasn’t a given. Whatever the case may be, we are lucky to have the opportunity to look to the next five, ten, and thirty years and wonder who we want to be.
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So who do you want to be? No matter your age, we all have untapped potential. Whether that entails a career pivot, a new chapter as a parent, or as a grandparent, a potential geographic move, or as a new business owner, we all have roles we can grow into and aspire to improve in.
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With that being said, none of this is handed to us. We have to be diligent about the future. You want to be healthy in the next ten years? That starts with movement and strength training now. You want to be a good parent? (I imagine) That takes investment of your time now to develop relationships with your kids. You want to retire early and live comfortably? That takes game planning and action now.
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Gates' Law states that people tend to overestimate what they can achieve in the short term, but vastly underestimate what they can compound in a decade. We cannot truly fathom what life will look like in ten years, but if you set your sights on your ideal, hypothetical life, your trajectory will carry you in that direction.
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With every dreamy vision for the future comes two groups of people: those who say they don’t live their dream life because of outside circumstances, and those who will continue to fight for that dream life regardless of those same circumstances. Whether that person you want to become is healthy, fulfilled, and pursuing their passions is completely up to (current) you and whether you’re committed to the decision to do the work.
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So who is it you want to be? What separates you from that person? And what steps do you need to take this week to continue growing into that person? It’s not a destination we are meant to reach, but a path we are lucky to take.
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If you found some value in this, please share it with a friend you think would enjoy it! And let me know if you’d like to be added to get TGIM.
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This week, my podcast recommendation is from The School of Greatness, “The Science of Doing Less to Achieve More with David Epstein.”
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With that, make it a great week!
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Until next time,
Shannon