That 5 year plan? Why you need to look back to move foward!

                         

 

  "Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?"

 

This morning I found brand materials from "the omonaikee show"; my talk show which debuted in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 2007. I looked at all the branding materials, the scope of the vision, the sponsorship letters, the invitation to guests from Lagos, the exchange of emails between my friends who formed the team that helped me, the budget to fly guests to Zaria, the costs of light, sound, set, cameras, tickets and so on. I saw emails exchanged seeking sponsorship from Cotek and remembered travelling to Kano and Kaduna to get Celtel (Now Zain) to sponsor the show. When I matched my age and stage in life and financial ability to that time period, I was impressed at what I had done as far back as 2007.

I realised I did it without an office space in Wuse 2 or an excess in funding.


Sometime ago I stumbled on logos and complimentary cards I made in 2009 for my company- The omonaikee media company. As I read through business plans, and documents my logo designer had used to try to capture the essence of my brand in the logo and stationery, I again marvelled at what I had done with the resources I didn't have. I remembered registering the company in 2010 and what 50,000 naira - the cost of registration meant to a corper like me at the time.
I realised I did it just by putting one step in front of the other, one small step at a time.

A few weeks ago,  I decided to go over posts that I have written on this blog since I started the blog in 2008. Each post is like a snapshot of my frame of mind at the time period it was written so I could see my progress and development as I got through the posts from 2008 till 2014- all 6 years! And I felt proud of myself- of what I had done.

I realised I have come far. I have made progress. Just by keeping at it.

Then I went home to see my family and unearthed bundles of pictures and a stash of journals I kept through my teenage and young adult life. Volumes of Intel about myself.   I read articles I'd written before there were blogs or social media full of deep thoughts and potent words which reminded me of an interview I had done with cognito studios blog in 2012. I searched for it on the internet and saw the same streak of quality in thoughts and words.

I realised it didn't start today.

The thinking, the reading, the writing, the pitching, the strategizing, the forming of relationships for causes, the content creation, the packaging ... it was there years ago in measure as it is here now.

I realised that that "it" is not in short supply. You don't run out of "it". You don't get tired and stop having "it".

I learnt a lot just by looking back at the last few years.

When you only look at where you want to be in the next 5 years, you tend to see what you have not done, what you do not have and what you haven't attained but when you look at the last 5 years you see what you have done, what you have proved, what you can do, what you have, where you have come up from and what you have attained.

It is important to see both sides because It's not just about the next 5 years but also about the last 5 years and the view from both sides.

While the future is concerned with all the inequalities in the equation and the boxes that haven't been ticked, there is the past to remind us that there are other forces at work and  there have been times in the past when we achieved certain things inspite of not having it all together.

And we can do it again!
 
I certainly didn't see all I have done today 5 years ago, I just put one foot in front of the other in the direction of where I wanted to be and viola!

Same with the next 5 years!

 

So what's your 5 year plan daily plan?