The Power of Planning

Planning is what you are going to do. Scheduling is when you are going to do it. Goals are plans that have not yet been brought into realization, or maybe not yet dreamed or determined. Dreaming, planning, scheduling and setting goals are powerful motivators that will make your life more productive. Planning causes you to be both effective and efficient.

1. Goal setting allows you to think outside the box. To not be conformed to the way things always have been, but to see the way things can be. Planning allows you to bring these goals into being.

2. Good planning helps you to see the end product before it happens. Planning gives you a compass to guide you toward the completion.

3. Planning harnesses your energies and forces you to concentrate., It gives you passion and focus. When you know what you are going to do, and where you are going, you do not waste energy wondering what to do or what steps to take to get there.

4. Planning give freedom. Looking for time causes bondage, guilt and frustration. Having goals is a powerful tool in decision making.

5. Goals keep you excited and enthusiastic; staying power even during the mundane. The step you take today may not be real fun, but it keeps the momentum up by letting you focus on the big picture.

“The peaks themselves are awesome – majestic and wild barrenness on a grand scale. And I am
always amazed at the progress made simply by putting one foot in front of another. A distant
summit can appear to be unattainable, then all of a sudden, it’s reached.” Leslie Trent Conger

6. Planning builds confidence As Zig Ziglar says, goals “helps you act like its so, even when it is not so, so it will be so.”

7. Planning frees you from the past by empowering you to break from the tyranny of yesterday and chart a new course for today and for tomorrow.

8. Planning is making a roadmap, helping you to recognize opportunities and see possibilities instead of problems.

“Opportunity is not what may come tomorrow, but what we make of today.” - Paul J. Meyer

9. Planning and tracking sets a basis for evaluating progress; helps you overcome defeats and roadblocks. Lets you see where you have been, where you are, and where you are going. Acts as a guide to readjust behaviors and attitudes.

Mona Dunkin, owner of Solution Principles, is a professional speaker, trainer, and personal success coach. She can be reached at 254-749-6594, or visit www.monadunkin.com.