The Fish Metaphor and Personal Long-Range Planning

When I was entering the job market after completing my time as a graduate student at University of Iowa, my mentor, Carl Schweser, asked me a question that has stuck with me ever since.

As we discussed my #career aspirations, he asked: "What kind of fish do you want to be?"

Carl saw the bemused look on my face and offered a clarification. "Do you want to be a big fish in a big pond, a big fish in a small pond, a small fish in a big pond, or a small fish in a small pond?"

This fish metaphor has become an essential part of my personal long-range career planning and I strongly recommend adopting this framework. Having an idea of the kind of pond you want to swim in and your role in that pond can help tremendously in long-range planning.

Sports-related metaphors also work to determine the playing field and the role that best suits you. Captain of an English Premier League team or Defender in a community league?

Haven't heard of personal long-range planning before?

This is a deeply personal exercise that I do in January every 3-5 years where I take stock of what I've accomplished over the last planning period and map out where I want to be in 3-5 years time.

During this process, I reflect on what's held me back (internal and external forces) and forecast the steps that are necessary to achieve my ambitions.

I'm a terrible artist, but I find that drawing pictures of the current state and the desired future state can be helpful to articulate what may be difficult to put into words.

Then each January, I perform a brief check-in exercise and course-correct if necessary.

Other questions to ask during personal long-range planning and the annual check-in:

✤ What #skills do I need to acquire to achieve my goals? Any formal education needed?
✤ What relationships should I strive to establish and nurture? Which are toxic to my ambitions?
✤ Am I building #mentalagility and taking information in from diverse sources to prevent calcification of a fixed mindset?
✤ What behaviors are accelerants and which ones are blockers?
✤ Is my current job/work net fulfilling or net soul crushing?
✤ Am I positively contributing to my family and community?
✤ Am I balanced?
✤ Do I have too much unnecessary complexity in my life?
✤ Do I like what I see when I look in the mirror? Am I self-loving or self loathing?

January is only a few months away. There's no time like the present to begin thinking about your long-range plan.

It's better to have a plan than to be aimlessly allowing life to happen TO you.

Now, on to our preparations for the Iowa / Penn State game. Go Hawks!

Andy