PLANNING AS A TOOL FOR EXCELLENCE
It is common to see very bright students fail in exams due to inadequate planning. Life is an examination. Everyone is allocated equal time in a day but the best achievers are those who plan on how to use their time and resources effectively.
Planning is basically deciding in advance what is to be done in the future. It is commonly said, when you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
Planning gives value to your time and resources and ultimately gives birth to your goals. You will never know the worth of what you have until you have mastered the art of planning.
Benefits of planning
- Planning allocates time and resources to where they are best needed.
- Planning enhances the sufficiency of resources
- Planners are result-oriented
- Planners avoid waste
- Planning brings order to your life. It makes you organized. Without planning, confusion and lack of focus are inevitable.
The Act of Planning
- Planning involves mental reasoning.
There is a saying, that there are two pains in life. First, the pain of discipline, and second, the pain of regret. It takes discipline to plan. If excellence is the goal, then it pays to pay the price of discipline.
- Planning requires getting the correct facts or data.
Every effective plan should be based on knowledge or the right information. Gather your facts together and plan based on this. Your facts should aid you to achieve the set goals. For instance, a good researcher must, first of all, gather the work of his predecessors to see what has been done in that field before proceeding. The information gathered will help him to develop a plan for his research. It would serve as a springboard or take-off for further research.
God had a plan for creation. He created the seas before creating the fishes. There was a garden in place before Adam came into the picture. As we strive for excellence, let us make strategic planning a fundamental part of our daily schedule.
Key Nuggets on Planning
- A genuine planner plans within available resources
- A good planner avoids distractions. Concentration is required for planning.
- Invest time in planning. Don’t be in a hurry to take off without a plan.
- A good planner is a knowledge seeker. Don’t plan based on assumptions. Get the facts required for planning.
- A good planner maintains self-discipline. It takes discipline to execute plans.
You can make it.
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© Nkese Umofia, President, CYMI
Photo: Gabrielle Henderson
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