Thoughts on Planning

I remember listing to Toby Keith’s “How Do You Like Me Now” when I was in high school and thinking, I want to big someday.  I think most of us have dreams of bigger and better things.  We want to become bestselling authors, famous singers/musicians, astronauts, high paid brokers, powerful politicians, or something else.  Unfortunately, most of us never see our dreams come to fruition.

There are several reason dreams fail; sometimes they fail because of a fear of failure, a lack of determination, an unwillingness to work hard, and a lack of careful planning. In this post, I want to focus on planning.

Goal setting has never been one of my strong points.  Even when I dreamed of being “big” someday, I never really thought about what that would look like.  I knew that I meant I wanted to be successful, but not necessarily in what way.  I knew I wanted to write, but I didn’t have any plans.

When we don’t plan, we fail to see the trees for the forest.  We have to start eat task with the right mindset.  The old question goes, “What’s the best way to eat an elephant?” The answer is, “One bite at a time.”  We have to take a larger task, and break it into smaller, measurable goals.

When you look at someone who is successful in any given field, what most often fills our vision is their success, not their struggle.  We assume that they got to where they are by luck, magic, or divine intervention.  We don’t see the difficult journey that brought them to where they are. We need to focus on the process that brought them to success which often includes planning, hard work, and perseverance; not just the end results.

When we make a plan, it helps us to track our progress.  It is easy to see if you are moving in the right direction.  When it comes to planning, it isn't much help to say something like, "I want to lose weight." Instead, we need to be specific, and say something like, "I would like to lose 35 pounds by my birthday."  Now you have something to aim at: 35 pounds, and a time frame to work in: the amount of time until your birthday.

We need to be realistic with our planning.  We need to be aware of what we can and what we cannot control.  If I say, "I will publish a book by the time I am 40," I am not being realistic, because I don't know if anyone will publish my book (supposing I wrote one).  But if a person says, "I am going to write a manuscript about  such-and-such, and submit it to five publishing houses this year," that is realistic.

My final thought on planning is this: don't just plan, act on it.  Once you have a plan, commit to follow it through.  Enlist the help of your family and friends to help see it through.  Let them see your goals, and let them help you refine them.  Show them your timetables and deadlines, and give them permission to check up on your progress.  Dream a dream, and work to live it out.