On The Need To Have A Plan

Many people would today have new goals to become that version of themselves they have been hoping for in the last 5 years. Many would believe that because today is Tuesday and it falls into the new year, they can suddenly say the things they want and the new year simply listens and hands it over to them. But know that yes it is possible to become that new version of yourself, but you need to have a plan on how to achieve it.

If you plan to become better at a particular task over a period of time, the first question you want to be asking yourself is what plan do I have to achieve this goal I have set out. It is not about the goal at this point, the most important question is what plan do I have towards achieving it. As you develop a plan, you are able to visualize yourself doing the new things you so badly want to do. But without a plan, a lot of the things that we really wish to achieve would continue to evade us.

Know that most times, we overestimate the things we can do in a year and underestimate the things we can do in a day. Start out with how you plan to achieve this goal you have day by day. How would you plan your day so that you have at least a few minutes everyday to do something small about that goal. It could be as small as 30 minutes everyday. If you follow consistently with 30 minutes everyday, in a month, you would have spent 15 hours on that particular task. Imagine how much better you would be if you spend 15 hours consistently towards achieving that goal you have set out. Now imagine if you continue on that for a year. You would have spent 180 hours on that task.

You can think that 180 hours is small, but consider that it means that you spent about 7.5 days doing nothing but just that task you set out. No sleep, no eating, nothing but just that task. Imagine how much better you would have become. Just imagine. But until you set out a plan to start something, it might continue to skip our minds and we might not have any way to measure it. Setting a plan allows you to hold yourself accountable even when you do not follow up with the plan. You are able to know that you missed some days because you did not follow the plan. But if you do not have a plan, you cannot account for your actions. And not being able to be accountable for our plan is the beginning of the end of any goal we wish to achieve.

So we should realize that it is important to have a plan. Having a plan is really one thing, following it up is the difficult part. But what fun would there be if it was not hard. Everyone would be doing it, setting up plans and really achieving it, but because its hard, only few people can have and follow up with it. And this is where good friends and mentors come in, people who can help you achieve that consistency and dedication. Having a partner who holds you accountable can really make your plan stick, but it would be excellent if you can hold yourself accountable, but it is usually very hard.

One way to hold yourself accountable is to draw up a calendar where you tick it everyday if you achieve that task and cancel it out if you do not. Seeing yourself do more ticks than cancels can give you more energy to continue doing more. So go out there and get a calendar you can tick everyday. Put it in a place where you can see it every morning and make sure to tick it everyday.

The most important thing you should realize is that whether you follow the plan or not, in another 365 days, we would by God’s grace be celebrating another new year and you would only be left with regrets. Regrets that you did not make the best use of the last 365 days that you had. So the question you should be asking is do you want to have another 365 days to celebrate achieving your plans or a 365 days full of regrets? The choice at the end of the year is really YOURS to make. Yes yours.

If you have any plan you want to achieve, send me a message and let’s see how we can together work towards it. The world can only become better if the people in it get better. So play your part today. Remember that whether you follow the plan or not, another 365 days is around the corner. What choice would you make? Accomplishment or regrets?

Thanks and God Bless.