How to think about the future

Part A – Daydream

What to do

Take some time out to allow yourself to daydream about where you’ll be 8 years from now. Don’t hold back, dream as big as you can!

• Do you have a qualification?
• Do you live in Tassie or somewhere on the mainland?
• Do you have a partner?
• Do you have a family?
• Are you saving up to buy your own house?
• Do you have your own business?
• Do you catch up with friends?
• Do you play sport?
• Do you have hobbies?
• Do you help your community or volunteer?
• What do you do on weekends?
• Where do you go on holidays?
• What other activities do you fill your life up with?

Part B – Write your story

What to do

Now we want you to let your imagination go crazy. Tell a story about your dream job and your life in 8 years from now. You can do this in all sorts of ways:

• Write a story
• Draw a comic or a picture
• Make a video or audio recording
• Create a mood-board that represents how you’re living, working and playing

As a starting point, you might think about the following:

• What clothes do you wear for work? Do you have a uniform? Do you wear business attire or casual clothes? Do you wear hi-viz work clothes?
• Where is your workplace? Are you working in the city or country? Are you outdoors or indoors? Are you in a school, hospital, office, mine, shop, construction site, on a farm, on water, or somewhere else?
• What tools, technology and equipment do you work with?
• What are your work tasks?
• Do you work 9 to 5, Monday to Friday? Do you do shift work? Or do you work your own hours?

Part C – Draw a timeline

What to do

After completing Parts A & B, is your future looking pretty awesome or what? But hang on, you’re not quite finished…

1. Now draw a timeline marking ‘now’ and ’8 years from now’.

2. Start in your dream job ‘8 years from now’. Then go backwards marking and describing all the steps to reach your dream job until you get to ‘now’. For example, I finished Year 12. I did an apprenticeship. I applied for three jobs. I picked up some casual work, got my apprenticeship, finished my apprenticeship, and so on.

3. Look at ‘now’ and then try and answer these questions:

• What actions can you take to progress from ‘now’ to the first step on your timeline? How will you do it?
• Are there any obstacles you might encounter along the way?
• Who can help you?
• How will you feel when you get to the first step?
• How will you keep on track to reach each step along the way to reaching your dream job?

This exercise helps you to see what sort of actions you can take to get to the life you’ll love. Also, by breaking it up into smaller steps, you can see how achievable it is.

Keep this ‘timeline exercise’ handy. You can go back to this anytime to review what you’ve done today, or to have another go at it.