Looking Ahead: Mapping Out Our Strategic Plan

Andrew and I had a fantastic week in New Brunswick with his family (thanks Jenny for watching the house/cats). One thing we did to amuse ourselves during the long drive - aside from listening to Madonna and Kylie - was to discuss our goals for the coming years. All this, while on the lookout for moose or deer.

In the past few months, I'd been outlining - for fun and focus - a strategic plan for our life. A strat plan is a bible a company creates to guide itself. It is usually drafted every three or four years and outlines high-level objectives and the tactics in which to achieve them. It's a good way to keep a company focused on what they deem important and to inspire and energize their stakeholders.

I recently participated in such a process for the non-profit board that I serve on. So I thought it'd be fun to create such a plan - more informally - for Andrew and myself.

So for the next three years (2011 to 2013), five areas of focus are:

1. Start a family - Andrew's been harrassing me about this for ages and I'm now mentally and emotionally ready. It's going to be a life changer and an uphill struggle, but we both want it. So to my 5 readers, stay tuned!

2. Build a dream home - We're aiming to move to a house in Summer 2011. Andrew wants a fixer upper, so we can mould it to our vision. Some things we dream about: a zen garden (summer 2012) and a cool home office (2013).

3. Evolve professionally - Find new challenges and achieve new things - be it professional, volunteer, or creatively. Yes, writing is in there.

4. Travel and see the world - We want to see as much of the world before the stork visits and, ideally, after too.

5. Live to the fullest - Andrew and I feel very blessed, so this is reinforcing the need to acknowledge that blessing by continuing to enjoy every moment and to share them with others too.

So, our "plan" is not earth-shattering, but it presents more clarity than we've both ever had. It's also to ensure we enter our 30s with focus. And of course, family and friends will energize us along the way (and vice versa); while budgetting, flexibility and spontaneity will be necessary.

We celebrated our one-year wedding anniversary this week and Andrew got me a card - and of course, I didn't even think of getting him anything. Isn't he such a jerk for making me look bad?

The card had a quote that really nicely sums up the point I want to make. At the risk of being corny, I'm sharing it: "Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction."

And I think by having articulated, informally, what it is we want to achieve together, it was nice to discover that we both have similar goals. And now, just gotta watch out for the moose and deer along the way.