I once went on a job interview where I was asked the classic question: Where do you see yourself in five years?
It was much earlier in my career, when I seriously had no clue. I was dividing my time between freelance cooking and web gigs. I answered with what felt like the truth at the time: I’d like to open a cafe.
Mind you, this was totally irrelevant to the job I was interviewing for, which was a web developer for a startup.
Somehow, I got the job. And 5 years later, I did not open a cafe.
Dreams change, dreams evolve.
A decade has 87,600 hours. For about a third of those hours we are sleeping (and hopefully dreaming).
Every hour of every day we are becoming who we are. Establishing our preferences. Changing our minds. Envisioning the future. Reflecting on the past. Having experiences. Saying yes. Saying no. Trying to control things. Resisting or surrendering to things out of our control.
And yet, even though we have lived through many decades (and very likely many lifetimes), it can still be really easy to trip on ourselves and get in our own way.
We might feel uncertainty and ask ourselves, where do I go from here?
We might feel doubt and wonder, who am I to be doing [this thing]?
We might feel fear and worry about the worst possible outcome.
What if, just for today, we remembered all that we are, all that we have overcome, and all that we have seen.
What if everything that has happened has prepared you for this moment? To be who you are. Today.
You are right where you need to be.
You know what the next right thing is.
You have what it takes.
You are becoming, and yet you already are.
What you wanted for yourself 10 years ago (or more) might be different than where you are today. What will happen 10 years from now (or more) may look different than what you imagined.
Let’s leap across decades and explore these questions together:
- Take a moment and reflect on who you were 10 years ago. What would you tell that version of you knowing what you know now? What would you tell past you about what is coming? About what you will experience, and who you will become?
- What would you say to the person you are becoming, 10 years from now? What are your hopes and dreams for that future version of you? Let your imagination run wild.
- How about right now? How will you claim all of your experience and all of your potential? Write down what you are ready for, right now.
Here’s to surfing the waves of time.
This post was originally shared in my weekly newsletter. If you’d like to read more like this, you can sign up here: newsletter.rozduffy.com
