This question has become a cliche of sorts -- it is a standard question that a manager asks his managee as a part of the performance appraisal process in the corporate world. This time when I was asked this question, it got me thinking -- really, where do I see myself in five years? Or for that matter in ten, fifteen or twenty years? And I am not thinking of this in the singular dimension of career growth in my professional life...
First and foremost, I do hope that I am alive after twenty years! If that happens, then I hope to see myself healthy and fit. I also would like to see myself having reached a more calm and tranquil inner state of mind -- where it's absolutely clear to me what is and what is not important in life. I want to see myself to be courageous enough to do what I want to do rather than what the world around me expects me to do. I really hope that I have an absolute frame of reference with respect to which I can say that I have been able to live a life worth living. I also hope that I am able to not fall for the temptation of using relative yardsticks to determine whether or not I have done well in life. I hope that I would have made a difference in the lives of at least a few underprivileged people. I hope that I would have at least five friends who I could count on for absolutely anything. I would like to see myself happy and perhaps successful in terms of the conventional measures of success. Last but not least, I hope that a few people in this world would be saddened if I suddenly ceased to exist after twenty years...
Actually, I would love it if I woke up tomorrow and all of the above were already true! But, I know it is not so (for some of the things I quoted above). So, I have a list of goals I need to work towards...I hope I can use this blog to motivate and remind myself of this journey I am taking. This is one journey where the destination is not as important as the journey itself.
I'll end with this fabulous quote I read somewhere a long time ago and which has stuck with me ever since -
Being successful is about getting what you want. Being happy is about wanting what you get.
First and foremost, I do hope that I am alive after twenty years! If that happens, then I hope to see myself healthy and fit. I also would like to see myself having reached a more calm and tranquil inner state of mind -- where it's absolutely clear to me what is and what is not important in life. I want to see myself to be courageous enough to do what I want to do rather than what the world around me expects me to do. I really hope that I have an absolute frame of reference with respect to which I can say that I have been able to live a life worth living. I also hope that I am able to not fall for the temptation of using relative yardsticks to determine whether or not I have done well in life. I hope that I would have made a difference in the lives of at least a few underprivileged people. I hope that I would have at least five friends who I could count on for absolutely anything. I would like to see myself happy and perhaps successful in terms of the conventional measures of success. Last but not least, I hope that a few people in this world would be saddened if I suddenly ceased to exist after twenty years...
Actually, I would love it if I woke up tomorrow and all of the above were already true! But, I know it is not so (for some of the things I quoted above). So, I have a list of goals I need to work towards...I hope I can use this blog to motivate and remind myself of this journey I am taking. This is one journey where the destination is not as important as the journey itself.
I'll end with this fabulous quote I read somewhere a long time ago and which has stuck with me ever since -
Being successful is about getting what you want. Being happy is about wanting what you get.
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