You Need A Plan

make-a-plan

My Advice To Millennials

I could be wrong. I’ve been wrong before. I think I’m seeing a real trend with the so-called Millennials. They are coasting through life without a plan. No plan, no idea, no clue, no goals, no values, no work ethic, and no desire to get out of the bed of life. My advice is simple: Make a Plan for life. You’ll need a roadmap of sorts to figure out how to get from where you are, to where you want to be, or maybe where you should be in life.

I’m not going to mention names, but like the saying goes, “If the shoe fits, lace that bitch up and wear it”.  Here are some examples: one person I know, just got out of the military. They have no desire to do the type of work they did in the military.  Their plan is to go to college. Which college? dunno.  What to study? dunno. What career are you interested in? dunno. When are you going to enroll in college? dunno. When I asked what the person is going to do for money in the meanwhile, the answer was a mix between “dunno” and “maybe work in a restaurant.”

The next example told me that they eventually wanted to get a career as a tester for video games.  So I said, “You want to find a company that will PAY you to play video games?” The answer was yes, it wasn’t a joke. That was his plan.

How To Make A Plan

I always hate to be the guy who gets on a soapbox and complains about things without offering a solution to make it better. Here’s a little more bread and butter about that mysterious “PLAN” I keep talking about. First you’ll need to make an inventory of your skills and natural abilities. Write down a list of the subjects you were brilliant in school. Once you have the list, then re-order it, based on how you feel about doing a job based on that skill set. Once you have the list, figure out all the ways a person could break into a career like that. Some jobs require a college degree, some don’t. Don’t obsess on a college degree if you can be relatively successful in that field without a degree. Develop a plan for career “A”, and at least two alternative ways to get to that career.

  1. For example… Let’s say your dream job would be a chef. There are two paths to becoming a great chef:
    A. Culinary school, like ‘Cordon Bleu’ https://www.cordonbleu.edu/home/en
    B
    . Become an Apprentice for a top chef. By far the most difficult way, but this is still done in the United States and across Europe.

Backup Plan

For each career choice, you’ll want a backup plan in case the first plan becomes impractical.  Maybe after dreaming about becoming a chef, you realize you have some horrible food allergies. Time to switch to plan “B”.  You’ll need to plan how long it should take you to reach these goals. In addition, you’ll need to figure out a way to make money until you reach that career goal.  One friend that I had, realized that she made a lot of money as an exotic dancer. Not exactly the kind of work she dreamed about, but she had the skills. She worked as a dancer while she went to college.  Her dancing paid tuition, and she saved her money. In four years, she had her degree, and a corporate job. She had a plan, stuck to it, and accomplished her goal.  I applaud that.

Be Realistic

stoner without a plan
Maybe your goal that makes your heart flutter is to be a scientist who studies Penguins in the Antarctic. That’s a great goal, but at some point, you’ll need to realize that there are maybe only two dozen people doing that in the world. Whatever your goal, make it something that you are passionate about. There is no greater hell than to be stuck in a career that you hate. When you decide on a goal that you are passionate about, set out to become the best in the world. Do not let anything or anyone distract you from that goal. Don’t be one of those people who are still living with their parents at age 35, working at McDonalds and mumbling “dunno” to life’s questions.