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Years before I left my corporate job, I'd sit down at my desk, open my email, and think, yeah... this is okay. But is this it? Good work, good people, but still that nagging question most mornings. It took a panic attack in the middle of a call during COVID to get me to leave and start my own business.
My friend Laurie Hollinger had her own version at 50. She had helped grow a small business from a million dollars to eight figures, but she didn't own any of that. So she asked herself, "Do I see myself sitting here at 60? And the answer was no."
Laurie is a coach now, and she works with people in that exact spot, where life "looks pretty good, but it doesn't feel that great."
If you've had a stretch like that, the usual advice is to figure out what you want long term. That sounds great until you try it. Planning the next ten years can feel too big to even start, so most of us don't. We plan the next quarter or the next vacation, and the big question keeps waiting.
I loved the way Laurie put it:
"Ten years is a vision. Three years is a plan. What you do tomorrow gets you to that plan."
You don't have to quit anything to do this. Today I'll walk through how to use those three steps, what to do when life gets in the way, and what I found when I tried it on myself.
Let's dig in.
Shrink it one step at a time
The ten years only has to be clear enough to point you somewhere. The three years is where it turns into real decisions. And tomorrow is small enough to actually do.
To find the ten years, Laurie starts with the end in mind, which she credits to Stephen Covey, and she means the real end. What do you hope people would say about you when your time here is done? Then you work backward.
Three years is where it gets real. Laurie's example was her parents: "My mom and dad aren't getting any younger, so I guess we're going to have to take that trip within these next three years." Someday never has a date on it. Within the next three years is something you can put on a calendar and start saving for.
And really, tomorrow is just the next small thing that moves you toward that plan.
But life is going to happen
The most common pushback is that planning this far out is pointless, because life's going to happen.
It for sure will.
A long view won't stop a layoff, a diagnosis, or a year when your family needs more of you than you planned. What it does do is give you something to steer by, so you're still making choices and not only reacting to whatever comes next.
In Laurie's words, "when you have that vision to hang on to, you maintain your agency."
What it looked like for me
My second burnout is what got me to do this work. It happened a few years into the business I had built myself, which made it harder to admit, because I had done it to myself. When I first burned out in corporate, I put a plan in place to start my business. The second time, I redesigned the business and my life, and I started by writing down what I wanted it to look like:
Slower, and not spent by default.
When I tried Laurie's steps on myself, what surprised me was that some of that picture is already here. Most mornings Ed and I get up for sunrise coffee on the front porch. As it's gotten colder we set up a little heater, open the garage door, and drink our coffee watching the sun come up over the cornfields.
In the afternoon I meet the kids at the end of our driveway and help carry their backpacks home. In ten years it will probably be a similar flow, but quieter, with the kids grown and maybe coffee outside our motorhome overlooking the Badlands.
But three-year plans are what keep it moving. For us that's setting a date for a trip to Japan with the kids, and putting more money away these next three years so I can really scale back my work time in about eight. It has also meant saying no to things I'd honestly love to say yes to, like some networking events and volunteer asks.
Takeaway
If ten years still feels like too much, Laurie has a smaller place to start:
"Let's take a smaller chunk of time. Just say, when I wake up a year from now, what will be different in my life?"
Your answer doesn't have to be big. A lot of mine is a cup of coffee in the garage. Once you have yours, ask what you could do tomorrow that moves you one step toward it.
When you wake up a year from now, what will be different in your life?
Hit reply and tell me. I read every one.
I'm always rooting for you. See you next week.
-Colleen
p.s. If you'd like to go deeper with Laurie, her Design Your Decade group starts Wednesday, January 20. You can find out more here.
➤ I help solo consultants, coaches, and experts grow their business without growing their hours. Cohort launches January 21st. Applications close December 18th. Learn more here or send it to someone who should see it.
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