Planning for a five-year period is ideal because it is long enough to surpass short-term goals and achieve something significant, without being so long as to be unimaginable or difficult to adhere to. When writing your five-year career plan, ensure it contains the following:

The Goals – start with something specific and ambitious. Do not be afraid to shoot for the stars, but be clear about what it is, considering your skill set, network, personality type and learning style. It is also worth considering what you are not willing to do. For example, if you have a family, then maybe you are not best suited to the long hours and stress often associated with a CEO’s job.

The strategy – this is a process of breaking the bigger, more final goals into smaller achievable tasks. If you need to participate in training to further your skills, find out where this happens, how much it costs and how you can register. Maybe a mentor would help? Then specify what is required to find the best mentor and work most productively with them.

Write it down – pin it on a board, have it in a drawer, save to your desktop. Whatever it is written on (although we say the more places the better!), refer to it often to remind yourself of how concrete this plan is, and how determined you are to get there. Add notes and make notes when new ideas arise, when strategies are in place and working well, or when you achieve something.

Above all, career planning should be a constant exercise of learning to take advantage of opportunities that arise throughout your professional life. Careering planning should be a process that helps you see the maximum potential of situations, not limit it.