Why do we need planning?

All of us have dreams and ambitions. Having reached this crucial stage of my life of thinking about my future, it occurred to me how important it is to plan and set goals! Steve Maraboli, an American writer, interestingly said: “If you don’t know exactly where you’re going, how will you know when you get there?”

Planning gives us a sense of direction, and it orients us in the clear direction we are to follow. None of us want to attempt a humongous task directly – that is absolutely daunting (been there!). However, we can plan the huge task in such a way that it will look like tiny doable bits of tasks. You may also agree with me that once the big task is broken down, we feel like it looks much more achievable, and it does in fact become more achievable.

I am personally using the power of planning for this blog, to get fitter, to lose weight, to get good grades, to become happier, and to get into a good university, amongst other things. If I don’t plan to accomplish these things, I doubt that I will accomplish any of them. I know this because whenever I have failed to carefully identify and plan a goal, I have generally failed to achieve it. In the words of Benjamin Franklin, “failing to plan is planning to fail”. Planning does this for us. It breaks down our giant goal into tiny objectives so that each small bit can be achieved one after the other until our final goal is achieved.

A plan is almost equivalent to having a road map that helps us reach our desired destination. Unless we have already been to the place we want to go to and already know the way to get there, we are going to need a good one! In my experience, a good plan consists of a general target (the big picture), a list of things needed to be done in order to attain this target, and then the daily, weekly and monthly actions and activities to be done that would help attain these goals, along with time durations and time management. That being said, there are indeed some great things in all of our lives that just happen unpredictably without the need for any plan, so I am perhaps only referring to the “big rocks” that do need careful brainstorming.

Planning for me even acts as a motivator. I don’t have to wake up every day wondering where to start and what to do, and knowing that I am doing my best in ticking off each task boosts my confidence too. Simply knowing that I am taking steps to create the life I want gives me a beautiful sense of peace.

– SaaniaSparkle 🧚🏻‍♀️