You often recognize the following question on your job interviews. “How do you see yourself in the next five years?”

The exact reason you know the answer to the question is because you expected the question right before the interview. That’s not what the question is all about. It’s about your personal future, instead of just a tedious answer to get a job.

In most motivational books, say, from Brian Tracy are all about finding your inner skills and taking action for them in real life. Most of all, forming a bright picture of your future plans including your specialized skills. What do you most want to do in life?

You cannot blindly solve problems on your way without any direction. You MUST have some picture of how you want to look, act, and feel in the future. That’s what visionaries are all about.

The next 5 steps to fulfill your goal in the next 5 years are all about you. Don’t wait for any job interviews.

1. Start Imagining

Imagination has no limits, literally. It can go from flying dragons to tremendous bizarre thoughts. It can create new dimensions. Things you will never be even close to see. But also, that’s why is called “imagination” in the first place.

Now, imagination is both, good and toxic. It has two sides, left and right.

When life hands the hard part, the problems, worrying, and overall stressful situations we can activate our imagination to both dimension, good and toxic.

From that part, we are in so powerful situation, that we are able to cause so much paint to us, such as creating cancer and other self-killing sicknesses, but we can also be as much as powerful to heal our own causes, and even to heal cancer, which is even harder than creating it.

If you just figure out the power of your own imagination, you will be able to select which one you would like to be: your own self-harm, or your own self-growth.

Start imagining your next five years. How would you like to be handling every day to the next 1825 days of your life to fulfill your personal life achievements? It may seem much, but if you look five years back you will realize that time passes in a blink of an eye.

You need to compete with your imagination, and come out as a winner every time, because you will constantly put dark thoughts in your mind, whether you like it or not.

2. Start Planning

Plans are the most crucial part before you take action.

“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

With planning alone, and writing your plans on a piece of paper, you automatically take the first action step to your goals. Everything coming in physical form is a part of the physical world. That begins with your own handwriting.

Imagination is madness if it just stays in your head without any action. People that are full of knowledge without any action, connecting with people and friendliness, separate from all the rest. They are no longer people who are easy to understand. It’s really important to balance gathering knowledge with physical world. As a matter of fact, everything needs balance.

One thing that has worked perfect for me is a writing I had before 10 months. I had one goal (unimaginable for that time) to fulfill exactly until 10^th of February. Even though it sounds a bit unrealistic, the goals are almost fulfilled, and I have two months left.

The bottom line is that my written plans and the personal prayer I still read where magically influencing my present and future. Everything was circling around it. I was so obsessed with them that they actually became reality.

You can only sense the magic of your own imagination if you start planning and taking the next step.

3. Start Taking Action

As imagination was the first part and planning was the second, action is the 3th and the tunnel that transfers your imagination to reality. It’s the part where “you’re not becoming crazy” because you show your imagination to the physical world.

“Well done is better than well said.” – Benjamin Franklin

Even the word intelligence means “to acquire and APPLY knowledge and skills.” Even things that are mental capability actually mean to be able to show that capability in the world with physical laws.

People are as capable as their ability to create their imagination in the real world. Nothing makes you special by keeping your knowledge in your head.

The day you get used to take action about your thoughts is the day you will start growing and experiencing your dreams. Everything you want is a constant action. Life never stops. Time is the key to remind you of that.

4. Start Motivating

No one is able to keep up without a little push. And the main part is that every person has a different type of motivational factors.

For example, the famous Steve Jobs motivation to keep moving forward was:

Autonomy – the desire to direct our own lives;

Mastery – the urge to get better and better at something that matters;

Purpose – the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves;

Awareness of death – a true understanding that your time is limited.

Steve Jobs was driven by his desire to create great products that he would enjoy using himself rather than products that would just bring profit to Apple. Every time a new product or software was released by Apple, it became better and better at helping people enjoy using digital technology. Jobs always knew that there is a big difference between using a product and enjoying using a product.

Another factor that drove Steve Jobs was his awareness of how little time he had left in this life. In his own words:

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything, all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure, these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” – Steve Jobs

So, if you don’t motivate to keep your dream exciting, you will always be unsatisfied and beat yourself up with your life. That’s where you produce stressful problems and situations. It’s the result of either not doing what you want, or enjoying momentum pleasure rather than your authentic long-distanced goals.

Keep motivating with everything you find motivational. That will keep you going, and most important, it will keep your spirit healthy and it will supply you with fresh energy.

5. Start Obsessing

Obsessing is often bad. But as I clearly state “often”, meaning “not always”.

Being obsessed with thing that is other than people and things, you will do yourself a big favor. It will make you circle around it 24 hours a day.

“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.” – Albert Einstein

It’s really wrong to obsess with people, and that’s what people often do. People obsess with people. It’s like staying on the first scale from a whole staircase. And let me be rudely honest, that’s why you probably aren’t successful.

You are either obsessed with things you put as your last goal (money, or physical shape of something) or people are your last goal (ex-girlfriend/boyfriend, or someone you give too much attention to). Even if you have a perfect relationship, you can clearly see what happens if you obsess with your boyfriend/girlfriend. First, you will be jealous, greedy, and second you will be harmed and even left from your loved ones. No one likes to be someone’s obsession.

You will have to obsess yourself with something bigger, a goal, a dream! The best boxers are never “in” for the money (even if some say they are.) The best soccer players are never “in” for the money (even though money is always a part of the motivation.) The best painters are never “in” for the money (they show their thoughts with color on a canvas.)

Find your vision and use your life to make it reality!