We all have dreams for ourselves and our own perspective of what we want our family will look like, and where we want our family to be in the future. And simply put, that's what our family five year plan is, our dreams as a family written down. Think of it as a roadmap of your family's planned stops on the journey of life together. Most couples don't often talk about their dreams, let alone talk about them in their entirety. Building your family's five year plan can be that opportunity. Allow me to walk you through our process.
Processing the Idea
In our information packed world, I immediately turned to the internet for some family five year plan inspiration. Didn't find much inspiration at all, in fact, there was zilch. Then I looked at five year plans for businesses. No good whatsoever. I wasn't writing a business plan, I just wanted to put our family's goals and dreams on a simple plan that we can maybe frame and reference from time to time. I had another one of those "I'll have to do it myself" moments. Yipee! I love getting creative! What I did find a lot of in my research were Family Mission Statements. I think those are a great idea, but it wasn't what we needed. A family mission statement is more about how a family strives to live everyday. Our family five year plan needed to be a where-we-are-going-so-we-can-begin-the-journey-today kind of plan.
Writing Down the Dream
It took us a good 45 minutes of great conversation to get our plan completed to our liking. At first it began with what our financial goals were...typical. Then the conversation quickly progressed to many other aspects of our lives. I knew that our plan needed to encompass all aspects of our family life in an organized way, so I needed categories. If you follow the blog regularly, you may know that I implemented a new filing system this year. Cathy Anderson created the JOYS {Just Organize Your Stuff} line of organizing paper. I love that name! I adopted her system of categorization into my filing and the best part about it is that they can easily apply to different parts of our life, like the five year plan! I love the consistency!
- Here are the categories we used to organize the dream
- Everyday
- Wealth
- Wellness {for the mind, body and spirit}
- Home
- Fun
By now you may be super curious to know what our family five year plan looks like, so wait no more. Here it is {with our personal goals left out for privacy}.
Tips for Writing Your Family's Dreams
Keep the dreams broad, but not vague. What's written down should be specific enough that the meaning makes sense months later, but not so wordy that one category takes up the entire page. Keep it simple, a few words is all you need.
Mark the year that each plan falls on. This will help you in thinking about which life stage each family member will be at that time in the future and gives a good frame of reference.
Notice the progression. Leaving a straight five year plan may be a bit overwhelming, so we included a one and three year plan to act as a checkpoint of sorts to get you to the eventual five year plan. It makes the journey more attainable and allows you to really mark the path you are on.
Use subcategories. We did that several times in different areas like our personal career goals, service goals, and things we wanted our toddler to experience.
- Other subcategories you might use include:
- Everyday - school or career dreams
- Wealth - debt elimination, college funding or retirement building
- Wellness - new learnings, fitness goals, service oriented aspirations
- Home - organization dreams or renovation plans
- Fun - vacation spots, bucket list, sports and hobbies
Dream big! I included a Dream Big {10 year} column for those far off "someday" dreams. We all have them, so write them down. Reach for the moon, you may just get there!
Starting the Journey Together
When a five year plan is applied to your family's dreams, it's not bone chilling at all. On the contrary, it's liberating, inspiring and exciting! This was an awesome opportunity to talk as a couple about the things we are passionate about, and a welcome change from checking in on our to dos. As we dialogue about our dreams, we learn what drives one another. Then, when things look down, look back at the plan together and know that no matter what speed bumps, flat tires or rest stops you face along the way, the journey together may very well be better than the destination. I remember reading a quote years ago that went something like, "love is not in gazing at each other, it is in gazing together in the same direction". What a blessing to be gazing together in the same direction, knowing that each day is bringing you one step closer to your family's dreams. I don't know about you, but for me, it makes each day a bit more purposeful. Waking up is more exciting, the mundane suddenly has meaning, and the "rut" is now the road.
We prayed before and after working on our family five year plan. We prayed beforehand for direction, openness and blessing. We prayed afterward in gratitude of the process and left our dreams in God's hands. You can ceremonially "cut the ribbon" so to speak in your own way, make it meaningful for you and your family. The important thing is that you chart out the course you take together.
A Gift for you
Now, as I love to say, I'm gifting it forward! Now it's up to you. I am making our family five year plan available to you as a free printable! May this be a turning point in your family's life and make your everyday brighter.
What a great idea - it inspires me to be more intentional about our family's goals. We definitely have them, but sometimes fail to verbalize or write them down. Thanks for linking up to the Creative Genius Link Party!
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by! I'm glad that this has sparked something in you and hope that you are able to use it with your family too!
Delete~ f
This is so excellent! Every family should have one of these! Pinning your printable, Ferly. Thank so much for sharing it. Great meeting you! :D Shan@FamilyBringsJoy.com
ReplyDeleteI agree that every family should have one! So glad my hubby wanted to do this. I knew before we started that he was on to something great. Thanks for gifting it forward!
Delete~ f
wow!! clear ideas about future! congratulations!!
ReplyDeleteMaría from Spain
http://www.etsy.com/shop/lacasitadmaria
http://lacasitadmaria.blogspot.com.es/
Thank you very much for visiting and commenting, Maria!
Delete~ f
This is such a good idea and reminder for me. I've tried to corner my husband for a few minutes and get something down, but no luck! lol Now that we are done with school we really need to do this. Before we always knew where we would be...in school until graduation. =) Thanks for linking up!
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting Michelle! Glad I can be a tiny part of your family's dreaming. My husband and I made it a sort of "date night" time so we could give it our undivided attention. Hope you corner your hubby soon! ;D
Delete~ f
I did this with my husband. It was very helpful to get an idea from you on categories we might want to include. I just need to make our brainstorming page look prettier and hang it where we will see it often. Thank you for the inspiration. :)
ReplyDeleteWow! Glad I can help you and your husband dream together! If you decide to blog about your process and the finished look, please let me know so I can check it out!
Delete~ f
My husband and I have started to work on our Life Plans/Goals. My plan is to use a large foam board to write our yearly goals. I love the way you have categorized your goals on your page, it makes it so much easier to visualize! Thanks for the inspiration! :)
ReplyDeleteYes, as we were working on our plan, I realized that scope of our dreams was so broad and we didn't want to leave anything out, so categories seem to be the best way to encapsulate many aspects of our family.
Delete~ f
Thanks for creating this and making it available as a printable. It'll help us streamline our goals. :)
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome Audra!
Delete~ f
Wow, never thought others had 5 yr plans for their family goals.
ReplyDeleteIn my life--so far my husband and I have had three 5 yr plans. The first was imposed on us. My husband was diagnosed with an illness and the doctor told us he had 5 more years to work. Well, those 5 years lasted only 2 years. So although we had a plan in motion--there were three years that I had to finish my degree, tend to our young boys, run the house and pay the bills. We accrued a lot of unavoidable survival debt through all that. The only thing that got me through that tough time was my second 5 yr plan (which couldn't start until the first plan ended). The second plan gave me hope; through this plan we got: an awesome job for me; a handle on my husbands health issues, an aggressive budget written by our oldest son to get us out of completely debt--and even save. Our second son came up with a chore/home & car maintenance rotation(they are truly gifted). We accomplished our whole plan. My third plan was not written and I consider it my clairvoyance. I looked at our economy in 2008 and saw the way things were going (living in NJ). My plan was to save as much as possible and to buy my dream house at great price through a foreclosure/short sale. That's just what we did. When the housing market dropped (hit really hard in our new CA town). We moved to the west coast to be near our now grown boys, in a home that is perfect for us. Our new home exceeded my dreams in this 5 yr plan.
These plans really work! Its 2013 so I guess its time to write another plan.
Yes, 5 year plans are great. I'm glad that yours have served you well.
Delete~ f
This is such a great idea! I have never thought about 5 year plans in terms of family, but they are used in business all the time. It makes so much sense! And the mission statement too... Brilliant! I think framing this and having it in the house is so powerful. It reminds everyone about what the family strives to be and gets kids to think about the bigger picture at a young age. Thanks for the awesome idea!
ReplyDeleteThank you Jen. I'm so glad that my hubby thought to do this for us! I hope that yours can become the beginning of realizing your family's dreams together!!
Delete~ f