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36 Pathways Plan A, B, and C
Where will you be in five years?
At the beginning of this book, we asked you to consider your personal “why” for college. Most students who choose to invest their time and resources in a college education do this because they think they will realize a return on their investment, perhaps in terms of a better career or higher wages.
But what effect will college have on your life? Will your college degree make you happier? What are your goals, dreams, and values? How will you make sure that your life means something?
In their popular book Designing Your Life, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans apply the principles of design thinking to create not just one—but three—plans for success in career and life. They argue that creating a Plan A, an Plan B, and a Plan C will help you to achieve more clarity about what you really want from your life and better understand how college fits into your true desires.
In this video, Brenda Fisher, CWI’s Visual and Performing Arts Department Chair, explains more about Pathways plans and how they work.
We have referenced Burnett and Evans’s ideas in our Pathways plans assignments. You will create three very different five-year plans for your life. For each plan, you will consider both career and life goals.
PATHWAYS PLAN A: DEFAULT
Default career: In terms of your career and employment situation, where would you like to be in five years? What’s your default career goal? For example, do you intend to be a certified nurse in five years? Do you want to be a high school math teacher?
Personal goal: Aside from your educational/career goals, what aspect of your personal life would you like to work on over the next five years? For example, do you have a health goal? Would you like to travel more? Are there certain skills you’d like to develop?
PATHWAYS PLAN B: BACKUP
Backup career: If your default career goal (above) doesn’t work out, what’s the second-best option? What’s your backup career? (tip: Look back at the Next Steps Idaho assignment)
Personal goal: Aside from your educational/career goals, what aspect of your personal life would you like to work on over the next five years? For example, do you have a health goal? Would you like to travel more? Are there certain skills you’d like to develop?
PATHWAYS PLAN C: FUN
Fun career: If money weren’t a factor and you didn’t need to consider what other people think about your decisions, what fun or completely out-of-the-box career option would you pursue?
Personal goal: Aside from your educational/career goals, what aspect of your personal life would you like to work on over the next five years? For example, do you have a health goal? Would you like to travel more? Are there certain skills you’d like to develop?
To see examples of what a completed plan looks like, you can try the Google image search: Odyssey Plans. Note that our worksheet is slightly different, and the directions for this Pathways assignment may ask for things you don’t see in some examples.
Completing this activity will help you to connect your career goals to what really matters to you in life.
TEDx Talk: Bill Burnett, “5 Steps to designing the life you want”
The Five-Year Pathway Plan is inspired by the Odyssey Plans of Dave Evans and Bill Burnett. Here’s an entertaining TEDx talk by Bill Burnett that may provide additional context.
