5 reasons why you should plan your life.

Not planning your life, and letting life take its course might seem like a great idea, until you realise that you are actually not growing or getting anywhere at all. This is exactly why you should take charge of your life and start being intentional. While I understand how scary life could be when things don’t go as you planned, I still believe that giving it a shot yields better results.

Here are five reasons why you should start planning your life:

1. Planning helps you set goals and how to achieve them.

Knowing where you are going, makes how to get there somewhat easier. When you have a roadmap, you can easily identify what your goal is, and some or all the required steps in achieving it. This can be quite helpful as it helps you to see the big picture, and also the smaller pictures, making everything less overwhelming. While many people worry about how rigid planning might make things for them, they forget about how helpful it can be in helping them to achieve a lot in lesser time, compared to when you’re flying in the dark, and letting the breeze blow you in every direction that it wants.

2. Planning makes you confident.

Being unsure is only natural, especially when you embark on any new life journey, but planning could reduce anxiety, and make you feel more confident. When you make plans, stick to them, and actually get your desired results, you get more confident about your life, and understand how in charge of it that you are. You are also less likely to be fazed by any new challenges, because as a planner, you already know what to expect, and can envisage how to deal with any type of problem that comes up. Nothing compares to feeling in control of your life.

3. Planning helps you to achieve balance in life.

When you already have everything laid out, and thought through, it makes it easier to prioritise effectively, and also make room for everything that is important to your success, happiness and growth. Otherwise, you would either be doing too much or none of something. Striking a balance helps you to have a happy, and more fulfilling life, where no aspect of your life suffers. This is more easily achievable when you have everything figured out from the scratch, rather than when you are just winging it.

4. Planning gives you a sense of purpose.

Having something that you are working towards makes you look forward to everyday, especially when it is something that you are passionate about. Having a vision for your life makes life and living worthwhile, and makes you understand the reason for your existence. That way, you are not just living, but living intentionally and purposefully. This feeling will definitely improve many aspects of your life.

5. Planning helps you to stay on track.

Distractions are normal in life, and we all get carried away once in a while, but when you know where you are headed and have a plan in place, it is easier to self-guide yourself to the right path, anytime you catch yourself straying. When you know what you have to do at a certain time, to reach a certain goal, it is most unlikely for you to waste time on an activity which will not lead you to your desired results.

Even though everything don’t always go as planned, having a plan in place, sticking to that plan, and making necessary iterations when needed, makes your quality of life so much better, because that way, you show life who is the boss. What will be will be, but there are some things that can be if you want them to be, so why leave those in the hands of life?