Planning for the Future: What can I start doing now that will come in very helpful in five years

written by Yuan-Wei Tan

Building a career, like building anything, starts with a strong foundation. Planning ahead and making preparations for the future will give you a strong foundation on which to build your career.

But how does one go about planning ahead when circumstances can alter so drastically and scuttle everything? There is no fool-proof way to ensure everything will go according to plan and recognizing that fact makes planning ahead even more important. It is very important to incorporate the experience of others who were once in your position as this will allow you to have better information to make plans and tackle obstacles.

In this Quora survey, a 23 year-old physics student asked what he can start doing now to prepare for the future. The responses are from a variety of people, some with working experience, who detail the steps they took to plan ahead and whether those plans bore fruit.