Planning is bringing the future into the present so you can do something about it now. Most people wander aimlessly from week to week, with no clear destination in mind. Many are then surprised when life doesn’t turn out like they hoped. But without planning, is it any wonder? Here are just a few of the benefits you gain by planning:
Design a road map to get to your destination.
- Planning allows you to not only figure out how you’ll get there, but also gives you a way to determine how far you’ve come, and how much more you have left to go.
- It helps keep you from spending time on tasks that won’t bring you closer to your goal.
Take control.
- You get to make choices and decisions, rather than leaving things up to chance, or worse yet, letting others make decisions for you.
- You are in charge of where you are going, making it easier for you to get exactly where you want to be.
Establish and maintain balance in your life.
- When people, tasks, and responsibilities try to get your attention and take you off track, your plan will help you to decide how much attention you’ll give to each of those distractions.
- Without your plan, you may soon find yourself off track, and your life out of balance because you won’t know when to say enough is enough.
Identify and focus on your priorities.
- We all have multiple responsibilities and priorities in our lives. Many, if not most of these are placed on us by someone else.
- By identifying your own priorities as separate from those of others, and then planning on how to pursue them, you’ll find yourself not getting derailed by something that’s more important to someone else than it is to you.
Makes your dreams more attainable.
- If you feel like your dreams are always beyond your reach, it might be because you’ve never tried to develop a plan on how you can actually reach them.
- Once a realistic plan is in place, you’ll be amazed at how achievable your dreams really can be.
Having a sense of purpose can make you happier.
- A plan can help you establish your purpose.
- People with plans are people who have a purpose, a goal, that drives them every day.
- Once your plan is in place and you start putting it into action, you will no longer just “exist”, you will instead “live purposefully.”
Makes it easier to say “no” to things that are not as important to you.
- It can be difficult to say “no” sometimes. But once you have learned to say “yes” to your goals as outlined by your plan, it will be easy to decide which opportunities are the important ones.
- If an opportunity is not aligned with your plan, then it’s not worth your time right now and you can feel free to say “no” to it without any hesitation.
Gives you a sense of peace.
- You’ll no longer have to worry about whether or not you are making the correct decisions.
- So long as your choices are in line with your plan, and bringing you one step closer to where you want to be, then those are the right choices to make.
- The peace of mind you will feel is extremely satisfying.
You’ll feel more powerful.
- A plan not only gives you permission to live your life according to how you want, but it also gives you the tools to do it.
- You’ll feel confident in your abilities and powerful enough to achieve what you want.
You’ll feel more passionate.
- Anything that’s important enough to become a part of your plan, is something that’s important enough for you to feel passionate about.
- You’ll feel excited every time you realize that your plan is working and that you’re achieving the necessary steps along the way to your eventual goal.
You’ll visualize a better future.
- You may not be able to see yourself living your ideal future life unless you plan how you will be able to get there. It’s amazing what you can envision when you have the right plan in place.
You’ll have a sense of freedom.
- Planning gives you the freedom to plan your life anyway you want, without having to explain, justify, or obtain permission from anyone.
- You’re free to plan exactly what you would want your life to look like.
You’ll eliminate regrets.
- Because you’ve made the effort to plan your life in order to achieve the goals that you want to achieve, so long as you stick to your plan, you can be confident that you’ll not be looking back and asking yourself “what if.”
