Planning is an important part of life, and is crucial in your success journey. We need plans to give us clarity on the path that we should take, and they help us organize our lives. A lot of times when life feels aimless, planning puts things into perspective and is our first step to pulling ourselves together. So, how do we ensure that we are planning in an actionable way?

1. Plans are Malleable

Planning is important. However, one of the most essential things to keep in mind is that plans should be flexible. Creating a plan is supposed to help you become unstuck. However, refusing to deviate can make things worse. Don’t procrastinate until an opportunity that perfectly fits your plan comes along. Your ideas of where you want to be and who you want to be will change throughout your success journey. Nothing in life is rigid. 

2. Baby Steps

A good way for your plan to actually work is to break it into smaller steps so that you can take the actions needed to move forward. As you learn and grow, different paths will open up to you that you didn’t originally anticipate. Following those new paths isn’t a bad thing. They have shown themselves to you for a reason.

3. Believe in Yourself

Your plan is meant to act as a guide, but it should not dictate your every move. Just like you have your success squad who are helping to guide you, your plan serves the same purpose. Remember to have faith in yourself, not just your plan.

4. Relationships are Important

Remember that your actions impact the lives of others. Don’t ignore the people around you for the sake of your plan. It is important to give time to yourself and to allow yourself to find betterment and happiness in your own life. But remember to include others in your plan. Those around you may cause your trajectory to change, but that can be for the better. You are not an island.

Your plan can and will change, but give yourself a good head start so that you can find even more happiness and success in this year than you did last year. 

“Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all is a form of planning.”

– Gloria Steinem