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What If You Had a 7-Year Career Plan?

And I don’t mean the one you half-heartedly mapped out on a slide deck two jobs ago.

Let’s talk about career confusion.

So many high-performing professionals I work with tell me the same thing:

If that sounds like you, I want to offer a different lens. A tool I’ve used with my clients - and recently with my own family - that might just give you the clarity you’ve been looking for.

It’s called the Seven-Year Vision Exercise.

Let’s break it down.

Why Seven Years?

There’s something special about a seven-year horizon.

Biologists, economists, and even spiritual traditions talk about seven-year cycles. There’s evidence to support that our bodies regenerate every 7 to 10 years. Economic markets tend to follow boom-and-bust cycles that average 7 to 10 years. Even some of the world’s most well-known investment and life coaching frameworks use a 7-year planning cycle.

But the most important reason?

Seven years is far enough out to dream bigger and see real transformation - but close enough to stay focused and take action.

Planning for 20 years feels like fiction. Planning for next year feels like a to-do list. Seven years hits the sweet spot.

Try This Exercise

Grab a notebook or Google Doc. Sit down with yourself - or your partner, spouse, or best friend - and ask this:

What do I want my life to look like 7 years from now?

Start with the big categories:

• How old will I be?
• How old will my kids or partner be?
• Where do I want to live?
• What kind of work do I want to be doing?
• What do I want my financial life to look like?

Get specific with your financial vision. Here are some examples to help you get going:

• I want to be consumer-debt free.
• I want to have only $150K left on my mortgage.
• I want $300K+ in retirement savings.
• I want to be able to take 3 vacations with my family every year.
• I want to give $10K/year to causes I care about.
• I want the option to work 3 days a week and spend more time with my kids or parents.

This might sound basic, but I can’t overstate how powerful this exercise is when you actually write it down.

What This Did for My Family

My husband and I just did this.

We wrote down how old we’ll be in seven years, how old our three kids will be (gulp), and what we want to be doing with our time. We talked about where we want to live, how we want to work, and what kind of financial picture will support that life.

And something really interesting happened.

1. We realized we were more aligned than we thought.
2. We had conversations we’ve never had before, even after 11 years together.
3. We walked away with a shared vision of what we’re building - together.

We've always been goal oriented, but our focus recently has been on our kids and family - inward instead of outward.

Suddenly, that feeling of "just getting through the week" was replaced with purpose. We weren’t just grinding for the sake of it - we were moving toward something meaningful.

Your Career Needs to Fund the Life You Want

Here’s the tough truth a lot of professionals avoid:

That means you need to know not just what kind of life you want, but how much it costs to build it.

Let’s go back to one of the example goals: “Only $150K left on the mortgage.”

Say right now, you’ve got $500K left. Your normal mortgage payments will get you down to $350K in 7 years. That leaves you $200K short of your goal.

That’s $28,570 extra per year you need to earn or save or find somewhere.

That might feel overwhelming - but it’s also clarifying.

Because once you know your gap, you can plan for how to close it.

The Problem With “Passion First” Career Moves

We’ve all heard the advice:
​“Do what you love and the money will follow.”

Here’s a slightly less romantic but more realistic version:

This doesn’t mean passion doesn’t matter. It does. But if you’re making career decisions only based on excitement or interest, you may end up missing the financial part of the equation.

Interest is required. Passion is optional.

If you like the work, you're good at it, and it moves you toward your seven-year vision - go for it. Even if it’s not your dream job. In seven years, you may be able to work part-time, take more risk, or transition into something else entirely.

But you won’t have that flexibility if you haven’t built the financial base to support it.

Where Equity Comes In

Sometimes, salary alone won’t get you there. And that’s where equity or leverage becomes important.

Here are a few ways to think about building equity into your next seven years:

• Join a startup or scale-up with equity options
• Earn stock compensation at a publicly traded company
• Invest early in fast-growing private companies
• Build your own business
• Ask for profit-sharing in your current or future role
• Grow your deal-making or sales skills and trade outcomes for equity

If your Seven-Year Vision requires a jump in net worth - not just income - then equity or ownership will likely be part of your path.

So What Do You Do With This?

1. Do the exercise.​
   Seriously. Set a 30-minute timer. Write out what you want your life to look like in seven years - including numbers. Do it solo or with your partner.
2. Calculate what it costs.​
   Figure out how much money you need to earn (gross and net!) to fund that life. Include everything - housing, kids, aging parents, travel, giving, hobbies.
3. Audit your current role.​
   Ask:
   → Will this job get me there?
   → If not, what’s missing - comp, equity, time, energy, opportunity?
   → Am I solving for “interesting” or solving for “aligned with my goals”?
4. Look at your options differently.​
   Instead of “What job sounds exciting?” ask:
   → What job moves me closer to my 7-year goals?
   → What kind of career path gets me the resources I need - money, time, ownership?
5. Give yourself permission to play the long game.​
   You don’t have to love every job. But you do have to love what it’s building for your future.

Final Thought

A job is not just a job. It’s a tool.

It’s a vehicle to fund the kind of life you want to live - not just next quarter, but seven years from now.

When you’re clear on what that life looks like, everything changes:
How you evaluate roles.
How you negotiate.
How you show up at work.
What you say yes and no to.

So if you’ve been feeling stuck or unclear, start here.
Don’t chase job titles - chase the life you want.

And then build your career to support it.

Was this helpful?

Hit reply and tell me your #1 financial or lifestyle goal seven years from now. I’d love to hear from you.

Until next week,

Beckie

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