4/22/19
One thing I wish I would have done sooner after beginning pharmacy school is making more concrete goals in the form of a 5 (or 10, or both) year plan. When school is overwhelming, or remembering to balance relationships with a job with studying and sleeping seems impossible, remembering the reason you are there is essential. Remembering your priorities and making sure you are taking advantage of the opportunities that will bring you to your goals is essential in any professional school program.
So without further adieu, the best way to create a 5 year plan! (I will use mine as an example.)
- Start by thinking about where you will be in 5 years. How old will you be? Where do you plan to live? Where will you be in your career/schooling?
For me, in 5 years I will be 27 and 2 years out of pharmacy school. My husband will be 1/2 way through residency and we will be living wherever that takes us.
2. Make categories and make 3-4 goals for each:
Career: Work in community pharmacy, continue membership and involvement in professional organizations (APhA, NCPA, GPhA), consider opportunities in veterinary compounding and academia
Health: Run a 5K once monthly, workout with a personal trainer twice weekly, workout 3-4 times weekly total, eat healthy and cook at home
Personal: 6 years of marriage, weekly calls to grandparents, get a dog
Social: Maintain friendships from home, Lipscomb, and Mercer, make friends in new residency location, strengthen relationships with other married couples
Travel: Start marking things off bucket list, take 1 international and 1 US trip yearly
Financial: All student loan debt paid off, save down payment for house, utilize financial planner for investment, live frugally on a budget throughout residency
3. Make concrete benchmarks for each year for each category. Some examples:
Year 1:
Health: Run the Peachtree Road Race and workout twice weekly
Year 2:
Career: Serve as chapter President of APhA-ASP, run for national leadership position
Year 3:
Financial: Meet with a financial planner and begin paying off student loans
Year 4:
Personal: Celebrate 5 years of marriage with a special weekend trip
Making concrete benchmarks for yourself that can actually be measured along the way will help you be sure you are still on track to meet all the goals you set for yourself to meet at the 5 year mark. Start small but be sure you’re taking advantage of all the opportunities that present themselves along the way if they will help you accomplish your end goal. And opposite to that, be sure that you’re not getting too caught up in something that will not serve the bigger picture you have clearly painted for your future.
Creating a 5 year plan can be fun and exciting as you dream about the potential your life has. It can be daunting as you look upon the next 3-4 years of professional school that you will have to get through before you meet those big goals. Mostly, the process is about making your priorities clear and aligning your current activities around those.
