5 Years From Now
Why looking forward to look back is worth the effort.
This past Sunday, after Easter service at my church, I was standing outside with my girls getting ready to walk to the car when I saw a family start getting set up to take a family picture. The mother had asked her teenage kids to line up for a picture – when I heard slight groans and noticed a subtle eyeroll.
Because I knew the kids of this family – I took a few steps towards the group and shared that, while they might not want to take the picture now, they would be glad they did 5 years from now.
While I meant it more as a passing comment based on my own experience when I said it – I’ve been thinking about it the last few days and it’s really stuck with me. Less about taking photos and more about how we approach our lives and our work.
(And yes, you should take the photo – I’ve written about that before).
The question that keeps popping into my head is this:
5 years from now – what will you be glad you did today?
We can often have short-term vision. It can be really easy to fall into the trap of tackling the to-do list or dealing with the immediate and the pressing.
But there’s power in looking forward and then looking back and asking yourself the question. Your own answers will vary – but here are a few suggestions to get your wheels turning.
5 years from now, you may be glad you:
Spent a full day in a jam session focused on clearly articulating who your brand is not for
Invested in deeper consumer understanding by getting out into the market, talking with real customers, and trying to immerse yourself in their world
Mapped out the full consumer journey and took an honest inventory of where gaps exist for your brand
Worked to fix the small, quiet moments of friction that erode your brand’s trust over time
Made the intentional choice to invest in long-term brand equity-building activities rather than chasing only the short-term activations or lifts
Invested time and energy in developing the next generation of future leaders
Enrolled in and finished that educational program you kept putting off or made the time investment to learn or develop a skill that’s now paying dividends in your work
Had an uncomfortable conversation that you’ve been postponing, but you know the relationship would benefit from the candor
Because you know what they say (if I may paraphrase) – the best time to plant a tree was 5 years ago, the second-best time is today.
Thanks for spending time with me in my workshop,
Eric
