Why you should plan your life out (planning pt 1)

If you plan and schedule most things in your life, you will be more at ease, happier, and have more spontaneity.

Yes, more spontaneity.

There are a number of reasons many folks choose not to make plans and set schedules. They include laziness, fear of change, it’s time consuming, bad experiences planning, wanting a more spontaneous lifestyle, and the all-encompassing “I do not see the value in planning and scheduling more than what I do now.” It’s a fine list of reasons which have held millions of people from enjoying life more than they do, including me (back in the day). Let me ask you the two questions which got me on board to make an effort to develop more plans.

What do you want to do and achieve in your life?

How are you going to do those things?

Start to answer those questions. Is it hard to come up with great answers for everything you’re thinking of? I think so. I realized when I did not have any of it written down, when I did not take the time to think it all out, I had a vague idea of what I wanted and less of an idea as to how I was going to do it all. A lot of people have said the same thing to me when it came to planning anything, from a party to how they were going to buy a house to traveling the world. Anything worthwhile in life requires planning in some way.

This is where some people will say, “If I plan everything out I will feel more stressed.” When do you feel more stressed – when you know what’s going on, or when you have no idea what’s about to happen? When you have time to do what you want, or when you are too busy trying to figure out what you should have been doing?

You might still be wondering how you can have more spontaneity in your life if you plan everything out. Think about it for a moment. How do you think you can have more spontaneity?

Here’s my answer: if you’ve scheduled your day, you week, your month, and your year out, you know exactly when you have to put your nose to the grindstone and when you can give in to your whims. You’ll feel great about it too, because you know everything else is in order.

At first planning can be stressful. If you have not been scheduling your time, you make not know where to find the time to plan (which might be why you want to start doing this). Tuesday I’ll tell you more about how to plan, even if you’re struggling to find the time. Wednesday I’ll go over what you need to plan and what you don’t have to worry about. Thursday I’ll wrap it all up with outside factors you may or may not realize are affecting your plans.