“What do you want to do for your first internship?” “Anyone here want to be a GM?” “Are you planning to start your own business?” “Where do you see yourself in 5, 10, and 15 years?”
Many people assume career planning for students means having confident answers to all of these questions from day one.
Cue me: smiling with teeth gritted while my brain liquifies from the sheer overwhelm at plan-plan-plan your life out and know-know-know where you’re going and never-never-never stop working toward that goal.
If only I were that person, but alas, I think my soul longs to be a mountain dwelling milk maid in the Swiss Alps, Heidi style. Small responsibilities. Lots of beauty and fresh air.
The milk maid door appears to be closed to me; I’m right back in that room full of people asking for a rough outline of my entire life’s work.
Well, let me start here: there are no right answers. We create a lot of order and meaning with hindsight, but when you’re in the present moment, it is more often guess work than any of us want to admit. So release yourself from the idea of “being a visionary” who maps out ideal strategic steps to execute at the most opportune moments.
It is a well accepted practice to create a 5–, 10–, or 20–year plan for ourselves. Even I, a milk maid at heart, see the value in having goals and purpose and direction for my energy. If we don’t fashion a lantern to illuminate the path in front of us, we are going to end up tugged along to parts unknown. Those parts may not be bad, just to be clear, but they may not be the places you wanted to go.
So lets talk about building a lantern.
This approach to career planning for students focuses less on rigid timelines and more on clarity, self-awareness, and courage.
1. Take Inventory
I found that it was helpful to think of all the things that my life encompasses right now. There are a lot of ways you could break it down into categories. Try to imagine every single thing your life contains right now. It’s a lot!
Categories I thought about: my children, my marriage, my leisure activities and hobbies, my chores and household responsibilities, my extended family and friendships, my work and my education.
Take inventory of your life and ask yourself these questions:
- How do they all fit together right now?
- What things do you enjoy the most in your life at this time?
- What things do you not enjoy?
For the time being, keep it broad. Here is an example from my own life inventory:
I enjoy reading, writing, planning events, being outside with my family, watching movies, and running.
2. Talk to the Ones Who Know You Best
You can call me cliche, but I started by talking to my husband. What things did he see in me? What things does he notice I am passionate about, like to talk about, or spend time doing?
What about my mom and dad? What do they see as some of my biggest strengths?
Next I talked to my mentor and other co-workers. Ask people what they imagine you doing. What do they notice as your current skills?
These weren’t formal conversations. You’d be surprised how much fun you can have laughing about all the possible futures when you ask someone “What do you think I should be when I grow up?”
After talking to lots of different people, friends, family, and colleagues, I took some time to synthesize the points that came up frequently. Align your points into “potential futures”, grouped together in ways that feel intuitive to you.
3. Dream BIG
Now its time to craft your own “potential future” to add to this list.
At this point, I hope you will see lots of commonalities amongst the things you are already doing in your life, the strengths and skills other see in you, and the future you hope for yourself. Using these as the basis, what’s the most outrageously perfect and fulfilling thing you can imagine doing with your life? Rip off the chains of practicality and your parents’ voices (don’t tell them I said that though) and don’t even think about education or time constraints or self-consciousness!
Most importantly: let go of fear. Fear is the emotion most likely to stop you from honestly evaluating your dreams. Think outlandish, extravagant, downright grandiose!
Remember: this is lantern building! Search for the light, the lightness. It’s easy to say and harder to do, so try this if you’re really struggling… Close your eyes and think about the “potential futures” you’ve crafted in the previous steps. Think of them as living things all sat before you. Don’t rush to take ahold of any of them just yet.
You might find holding these dreams and ideas at a distance in your mind quite hard. I’m betting that one or two of these drams are practically begging to come to the fore. Take note of which ideas are most chaotic, which can easily fall away. Contrary to instinct, we often reach for the quietest dreams first. Why are they quiet? Do they not inspire you? Perhaps it’s not an issue of passion but of fear. Is this dream a bit afraid of coming true?
Examine what attracts and repels you from each of these potential futures in turn, from “least interesting” to “most interesting”. (Make your loudest dream wait. It’ll survive a few minutes without attention, I promise.) Write it all down!
After this gentle examination of each of your dreams, take a break. In fact, take a few days or a week away from thinking about it. Let it all settle for a bit without your constant observation. After a week, revisit your notes. Which of these dreams springs to your fingertips with giddy excitement? Which is already beginning to glow, shimmering enticingly within you?
What is the thing that fills your chest with yearning? What ideas make your heart flutter within you? I hope it’s obvious that the dream that speaks to you is the one you should pursue. Grasp onto it with vigor and place it in your lantern!
4. Write It Down, Map It Out
Now you’ve devised a direction in which to set your energy. For me, it is the goal to become a head librarian and extra-curricular programme manager for an educational institution. There are lots of different steps I can take to get there, but I have a fairly clear idea of the ones that I want to pursue.
This is the easiest step in my estimation because it’s the most concrete. You’re building out the actual steps of your plan. Work backwards from your one lofty goal to outline out the major steps you need to take:
Education
For many goals, education should be your obvious first step. I know I want a Master’s degree in Library Sciences, and I can plan out the timeline in which I aim to complete that step.
Career Trajectory
For my stated goal, I need to gain experience working in education, take opportunities to build skills in coaching and program development, and so on. Think about what you need to do career-wise to work towards your long-term goal.
Note that “gain experience” is a purposely high-level phrase. Personally, I value flexibility and spontaneity in my life and career. I want to leave room for surprising twists and turns. The kinds of experience you need or want to gain may be different.
You can be as high-level or specific as you like with your 5-, 10-, or 20-year plan. Keep in mind that building flexibility into your goals will help you continuously renew your passion for the things you pursue, even as circumstances change.
5. Say It Out-Loud, Let It Be
It’s scary to say things out-loud long before they will come to fruition, but surely you’ve heard of the idea of “manifesting”. You have to be willing to share your goals with others, because it’s often our community that brings us the best opportunities.
You may have caught on to the fact that this blog post is an example of how to enact step 5! Write posts online about your goals, talk to mentors or teachers about your goals, go to networking events in your field of interest. Send your signals and feelers out into the world.
With that said: buckle in for the long haul, honey. No amount of planning and sharing can make five or ten or twenty years move any faster than it’s going to move. So let the moments come to you. Plans take time to cook.
As AIHM’s very own Samantha Marion can attest, steps 4 through 7 take time. LOTS of time. For years, Samantha shared with her peers and colleagues her desire to work in a hospitality school. Thus, when the idea for a hospitality college started by Minor was floated, people thought of her right away and she knew to jump on it. She was open and, importantly, vulnerable with her dreams. When opportunity came, she knew to act and other knew it would be perfect for her!
6. Persist
All of life is really a balance of knowing when to wait and knowing when to act. Persistence can make things happen, as we know, but sometimes you’re being persistent in a direction that you realise totally sucks. Or maybe it’s that you have literally no direction! Just tell me where to put my persistence, Coach, and I’ll get started…
Here is a real mind bender for you: waiting is in fact an action. Waiting should be an active posture in your life. Wait with clarity, a sharp eye, and an elevator pitch always in your back pocket.
Persist in waiting and persist in pursuing the opportunities that bring you that little bit closer to the dream that gave you wings. Huge and unforeseen opportunities may come your way. Take them! Take them by all means. Don’t sell yourself short; believe that you are the best person for that spot and make it so, through effort, through time, and through your genuine passion.
Remember that time can change perspectives and desires and opportunities. Allow yourself the grace to adapt and change, and let your dreams evolve with you. Keep tending to your lantern, fueling your passion and refining your purpose across time.
7. Enjoy
A last benediction before you go: Enjoy it. All this lantern building is for naught if you do not find the path you travel beautiful and diverting.
Enjoy the laughter and self-reflection of steps 1 and 2. Enjoy the carefree dreaming of step 3. Relish the unabashed optimism of step 4! Savor, nay, indulge in the process of waiting (step 5).
How do you balance all the fear and stress and drudgery of life with the earnest longing for joy? Why, my dear reader, you just do it. There is simply no better way, no easier way, and no more complex way to put it. You choose it because you revel in life and in being alive. The drudgery is a moment as vital to your journey as any of the mountain peaks you will crest.
Enjoying life is so much more than just achieving what you set out to do. It is every single day along the journey, every tear shed and kiss shared, every tiny advancement and big setback, and every start line and finish line you cross. It is all those remarkable and unremarkable moments we held along the way. Don’t ever lose sight of the glorious present you are living in while you persist toward the grandiose future you dreamed of. Hold both as equally important.
Next time someone asks what you’re plan is, all you have to do is reach for your lantern. The light will pour out of you as you share your most ambitious goals. And you never know… that person you’re talking to might have just the opportunity you’ve been persistently waiting for.
If you’re really brave, write down that really big dream of yours and send it to me. I hope this article has made abundantly clear that I would love to read it and revel in it with you. It would be an honor to bear witness to the lighting of your lantern, the start of your journey of joy and persistence.
Chase Your Dreams at AIHM
Study hospitality where it comes alive. At AIHM, you’ll tackle real hotel business challenges in the Situation Room, train in professional kitchens and operations labs, and complete internships in places like Thailand, Dubai, and the Maldives.
Whether you’re starting with a Bachelor’s degree, stepping into hospitality from another field or working toward a Master’s degree through our Postgraduate Diploma (PGD), building focused industry skills with professional certificates, or beginning your journey to a European degree through AIHM College pathways, you’ll gain global experience, industry confidence, and a career that can take you anywhere.
