Fail to Plan = Plan to Fail

If you fail to plan then you plan to fail.

My friend Alex mentors a group of people starting up their own businesses. This week he told them, “You either Plan or you Gamble”.

This is an important message. I meet people all the time who have Big Dreams, and no plan, so nothing ever happens.

What is it that you’ve talked about doing? You’ve talked about it a lot, maybe even for years. (I’m sure your friends and family still listen raptly to you when you do. Yes indeed.)

For me, it’s been writing. For awhile I knew I could write a bestselling novel. I started one or two of them. Then I told everyone about how I was going to write important non-fiction books that took incomprehensible material and ‘translated’ it into language that everyone could understand. It would change people’s lives; I was committed to a life of service. I took writing courses, read writing books, joined groups where we supported each other to write better, even became a lifetime member of an online writing university. Years of talking about it and making halfhearted attempts. In recent years (maybe 3) I’ve been talking about blogging. I bought every book, tried it 2 or three times and each time it lapsed.

NO plan = NO success.

Someone challenged me to fish or cut bait; he said that I needed to either DO it, or shut up about it.

So, here I am blogging 5 days of of the week, working from a plan, and DOING it!  I feel good about it, AND optimistic that the next thing I decide I want, I can have.

All I need is a plan. (And then of course, to follow the plan.)

Let me know how your plans are going….

7 ways to feel happier at the end of the day

  1. Make a plan for your day. List the things you must do. Keep the list short, so you can do them.
  2. Do the most important thing first. That way, if you get interrupted later, you’ll already have done something worthwhile. Don’t just do the easy thing first.
  3. Complete three things each day, for sure. Fewer than three doesn’t offer enough opportunities for feeling great about accomplishments. Aiming for more just adds stress to your life.
  4. Keep your commitments. If you can’t keep them, then re-negotiate and make a new commitment. Include commitments you make to yourself as well as those you make to others.
  5. Take some exercise. If you don’t do any now, add some. If you do some already, then good for you!
  6. Do the washing up before you go to bed. (This could be one of the three things you complete.) FlyLady also suggests you should Shine Your Sink.
  7. When you get into bed, think of three things that you’re grateful for. Feel free to think of more!

Will you let me know how this works for you? Leave a comment.