When it comes to the holidays and transition, planning is paramount! It’s not about having the perfect plan – simply having one will help mitigate a frenetic experience and help avoid emotionally-based decision-making and unnecessary holiday or transition “drama.”

It’s important to ground your plan in your vision for life after transition. After all, if you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.

So think about the outcome you want and reverse-engineer what is needed to make that a reality. Planning a holiday dinner? That requires a thoughtful menu, corresponding grocery list, known allergies, seating arrangement, coordinating time to ensure the meal is hot when served, etc. For career transition, the first step in your plan is to envision the life you want to live out of uniform.

[FROM MOAA'S TRANSITION GUIDE: Success at the Executive Level]

To do this well, consider journaling on the following questions. Be as specific as possible without getting bogged down in how you accomplish a given goal, or whether the goal is realistic. Just write without judging yourself and describe what your ideal day entails from the time you get up in the morning to the time you go to sleep:

• What are you doing?
• Where are you doing it?
• With whom are you working?
• Who do you serve?
• What problems or challenges do you solve?
• What are you wearing?
• What do you see, smell, hear, feel, taste?

Revisit your vision as you discover and learn things that inform and shape it.

Once you have your vision in mind, take an inventory of your strengths, skills, values, and interests. Think about the jobs you have held since you were a child, your volunteer work, and your collateral duties. Write this all down on paper and see if any themes (or inconsistencies) come to light. What have you learned or discovered?

Not sure what you want to do after military service? MOAA offers a suite of transition services and resources including webinars, workshops, LinkedIn profile reviews, résumé critiques, and career counseling/coaching programs. Check out the MOAA Events page to register for upcoming offerings.