You might be straw-manning the 5-year plan a little. That said, for many of the reasons you state I don’t have one either. So maybe I’m bull-shitting and still acting out your advice, which validates it :)

However, it could be that long-term thinking is far from useless.

Personal example: I just got my first full request from an agent for a novel. That journey took nearly 4 years. If I’d planned it better it may have only taken 2 or 3 years. Hard to say with so many variables.

To me, as I experience it, when I’m moving in a valuable direction across my future selves in the near and medium and long-term, I can feel it as, let’s just call it meaning.

Thanks for the post!