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If You Fail To Plan You Plan To Fail
dymond phillips • Feb 26, 2018
So last weekend I baked some brownies and it got me thinking. To make a brownies, you have to mix the right ingredients using the right tools and bake it at the right temperature for the right amount of time. Even for something as simple as brownies, there’s still a process. Having good ideas with good intention is cool, but certainly not enough. To make an idea come to fruition, you need the right recipe with the tools, ingredients and timing necessary for a uniquely successful result.
So many people fall victim of living a life by default rather than design. My pastor spoke about this on Sunday. What plan do you have for your life? Did you know that we increase our chances of success when we design the life we want to live. For example in school you meet with your academic advisor and come up with a academic plan. You do this to be successful in the long run. When working out you have a health plan. You need a actual plan for success, nothing is just by luck. Having a mental plan is not enough you have to actually write down goals and plans for your life. Mattie James taught me some amazing things this week.
She taught that there are certain techniques when making goals for your life. Here are four things you must do in order to write down goals that you will actually achieve to have success in life.
1. Determine Your Present Position
Now this may sound easy but it's actually the hardest part. You have to determine where you are now. Where is your current position? You know how hotels have maps on the back of doors that show you are here? It's like that. In order to get where you want to go you have to see where you are. Even when trying to get on the path of great health you have to first step on the scale and see your current weight. You can't get to your destiny until you realize your present situation. Determining this does not mean you have to be ok with it or like it. You just have to be real with yourself, you might not want to be where you are but you have to be able to see exactly where that is.
2. Define Your Personal Preference
You have to know what you want. This can be learned by selection and deselection. That means knowing what you don't want will help you determine what you actually do want. In life you have to have specific goals. People miss goals for two reasons: they set goals that are too small or they expect them to happen too quickly. For example, you can't just say I want to be wealthy. You have to have a goal behind the goal. More like I want wealth so my future children can have an inheritance, I want to leave a legacy. When I die I want to be able to give from the grave. That's a better goal because the goal behind the goal is so important that it'll push you even more. If you don't know what you want you'll accept anything, that's in life and even relationships. You can minimize a lot of drama in your life if you know what you want. Lastly, I know I'm always doing this and need to break my cycle: Have you ever gone out to eat and you don't know what you want so you just fall on your default or go to. I have to stop doing this because instead of designing what I want I'm going to what I know. You have to step out your comfort zone.
3. Diagnose Potential Problems
Most people don't go after the life they want because they have the "what if it goes wrong" attitude. The problem with that is, what if it goes right? Honestly what do you have to lose? If you live a what if life you'll never have a prosperous life. Successful people plan on being successful. You have to diagnose the problem areas in your life and attack them head on. Look at your flaws and fix them one by one. You will be the downfall of your own success if you don't identify the problems. Nobody is perfect!
4. Depend On God's Providential Plan (for those of you who are religious)
You can't do anything without God. Prayer is EVERYTHING! No matter how much planning you do, you still need God to win at life. Understand that your timing is not always Gods timing. He has already mapped out your future you just have to get it.
Moral of the story is in order to have a BETTER and SUCCESSFUL life, you must plan. People spend more time planning vacations rather than planning their life. It’s impossible without the process. But if you’re willing to take the necessary steps, you can have your brownies and eat it, too!
