For one of our next Co-op assignments, we had to create an Odyssey Plan. An Odyssey Plan, as explained by Bill Burnett, is meant to help us visualize our future. Making plans will help us take action and make more meaningful decisions. This activity helped me reflect on my current likes and dislikes. What makes me happy? What is lacking? I enjoyed the fact that we are encouraged to make the plan with lots of images and we were encouraged to be creative. This made the activity more enjoyable and easier to do. I was able to use the timeline as a brainstorming canvas and fill it with different goals and ideas.
Thinking about my next 5 years was not so easy! Since the pandemic started I realized how much can life change in such a short time. I had a particularly hard time thinking about my next 5 years because I now know that everything can change in an instant. I used this opportunity to really reflect on my current life and how I would like to take it forward. I have made three different life plans:
- My optimized life
- My alternative life
- My fascinated life
I will explain how each of the plans is different from one another and what they each mean to me. I hope that after reading this other people also try to make their own Odyssey Plan.
Plan #1: Optimized Life
In our optimized life, we should be trying to answer the questions: what are activities that will help me feel engaged and energized and therefore be able to optimize my life?
For this plan, I really had to think about what things that currently make me happy and what things I want to spend my time with. At the moment I am truly happy with my overall life in Vancouver. After the pandemic started I had been working as a co-op student. I have started to earn some more money and now I am able to have some savings. I have also started to learn so much about work life and about my future career interests. At this point, I would like to continue to work on my savings. At some point, I would like to go to grad school and I would like to be able to go without having to worry too much about finances.
Resources: Do I have the resources to achieve my goals? I would say I do. In my timeline, I have given myself enough time to do most of the things I would like to do. I am not rushing things and if I need some more time to work on some other aspects, I can take that time.
Satisfaction: How much do I like this plan? I quite like it! After having worked in education and with individuals on the spectrum, I have come to realize that I enjoy working in such a meaningful position. It makes me truly happy to know that I am able to use my skills and knowledge to help another individual. I would like to use the resources and time I have to gain more experience in such fields and improve
Plan #2: Alternative Life
For this plan, I have to imagine that my current career path has vanished. Now what? Where can I transfer all my skills and knowledge?
For this path, I thought about something that I would have wanted to do as a part-time job even now. I have always liked to do art: painting, yarn work, air dry clay, and design making. I have always liked to be creative and in the past, I have made some artwork that I have sold too. I had never had the resources to start a business but if my current career path interest was not available I would definitely want to choose some sort of artistic career.
Plan #3: Fascinated Life
For my 'fascinated' life, I have to think about what type of life would I have if I didn’t have to think about money or image. This was the hardest plan for me. There are way too many options and too many “fantasies”. I had some fun with this one and write about
Resources: In this life, I would have all the resources I wanted, I suppose. So resources would not be a problem. Even time would not be a problem. Imagining that I don’t have to worry about money or image I wouldn’t have to wait long to do or have the things that I wanted.
Satisfaction: When I think about how much would I like this life, it is hard to tell. Who wouldn’t enjoy a life where we don’t have to worry about money or time?
Confidence: It was hard to measure the confidence in which I could
Coherence: Out of all of the plans I have made this one is the one that makes the least sense to me. It makes sense in the sense that I would be doing things that make me happy and things that make me be productive. But I like to challenge mysef, and if money and and image are no problem for my life, then I would not be challenging myself enough.
Learning Significance