How will I cope if my plans do not go as I wanted them to?

Hi Ty!

I think it helps if you embrace the idea, from the get-go, that, in all likelihood, your plans will not go the way you want them to! But. . . . this is not necessarily a bad thing. You may discover along the way that you have strengths in areas that you never knew you had (training, public speaking, etc) or a totally new field may emerge that did not exist at the time that you had mapped out your career (legal marijuana, for example). Or, perhaps there will be a situation where opportunity comes knocking. . . a friend is starting a business and wants you to be a part of it.

I have seen many plans that young people have put together. Some are workable. Some are too specific. What if I were to say my plan is to become a police officer, after two years become a detective, specializing in auto accident investigation, and, after 10 yrs on the dept, leave and go to work for an attorney who handles traffic accident cases? Lots of opportunities to get derailed. What if I can't get hired as a police officer? What if I do, what guarantee is there that detective positions will come open when I am ready to promote? And, what guarantee is there I will beat out the competition? etc, etc.

What if I do become an officer? They asked me to become a Field Training officer, and then, to actually become a full-time member of the training department, leaving patrol altogether. Now what do I do? I reevaluate my plans. Perhaps I can stick with the plan to leave in ten years, but, maybe now, instead of working for an attorney investigating car accidents, I start looking at what it takes to become a corporate trainer.

Life is a journey. I want to encourage you to keep your eyes open for those opportunities that take you in a different direction than you planned. They are not necessarily a bad thing!

Hi Ty! This is a great question and one that I definitely still ponder as well.

That's awesome that you're thinking out plans for your overarching goals. Of course, sometimes these plans don't exactly pan out as you thought they would. From my experience of failing many times, I think the best way to motivate yourself to keep working to achieve your goal is to look back on all of the things you did accomplish while you were heading towards this goal.

I think often times some people get bummed out when they don't achieve a goal they set in their mind, but once they think about all of the things they accomplished in the process, they are proud of all of the work that they've done and the many new concepts they've learned.

This is also a good time to recalibrate your plans and adjust them based on what failed initially. If you keep thinking about this iterative improvement, you'll keep seeing progress which will be super motivating and enable you to eventually achieve your goals.

Hope this helps,

Wyatt

Hi Ty, what a great question!

Speaking from my own experience: change is one of the only constants in life, and learning how to adapt to change will go a long way in building your resilience as a student, professional, and human being in general.

Here are a couple articles you might want to read through to learn about resilience, adaptation, and learning from failure:

1. The Road to Resilience
2. Five Science-Backed Strategies to Build Resilience
3. Strategies for Learning from Failure

When my plans change or when things don't go as expected, I try to focus on what I can learn from the situation. My mindset and motivation is to learn from the unknown, rather than achieving a specific outcome (although it is a pleasant surprise when things do go as planned).

I wish you the best of luck!