Where Do You See Yourself…

… in 5 years time?

That’s the question that is normally asked in interviews, or something along the line. Whether it’s a 3-years, 5-years, or a decade long plan into the future, they all ask the same thing; to project or foretell the future.

I was asked the question today during a discussion with my manager, in which I shot the question down. “That’s a very bad question,” I said. He replied, “Yeah you should have a plan. I have a plan.”

In a way, yes, I agree with him that we need a plan. But who could have seen COVID-19 coming? There’s a plan, and than there’s an action plan.

“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

Mike Tyson

But even action plan doesn’t survive the first contact with the enemy, or hurdles. The answer to that is that you adapt and adopt a new plan. In the end, the end is never the same as the start. The plan you start with is not the one you end with. Which is okay, but what I am saying is that is impossible to see where you would be in 5 years. It’s good to imagine and plan about where you would be, but it is quite unlikely so that it will happen as you imagined. I have seen it time and time again during my short life, and Alhamdulillah, it has been better than what I imagined.

Looking at a signalling example, when reading the book 25 years of Solid State Interlocking (I’ll write the review soon), I can say that the people who were working on the SSI would probably were not expecting that their product would be so successful and still widely used till this day. In the book, the writer said that they were busy and hopeful of the product being useful, but never did they imagined it was to be like what it is today.

Applying to myself, I can’t imagine anything that I am doing now would be extremely useful in the future, but who knows. I pray, and do whatever I can, and insyaAllah the success will come. If not now, then the hereafter. Cliche aside, do your best. It is useful enough of your time.

Thank you for reading.