The better the planning, the more you can be prepared to succeed before taking actions to let go of the bad habit, the easier it will be to succeed.
Have you ever thought you would like to give up something or develop a new and good habit and just started straight away? How long have you kept going? How many times have you tried to change?
With planning, you are preparing to change your life! Yes, giving up bad habits and replacing them with good habits has wonderful rewards.
Why is planning so vital?
Would you go on holiday without making any plans at all? If you have done so, what have you left behind? How else have you suffered? I was amazed to learn how many people leave their passports at home. They are then distraught that they cannot get on the plane and fly off to a wonderful holiday.
Planning is essential to ensure a successful new way of life. By letting go of one bad habit, what good habit are you going to put in its place?
As you exchange bad habits for good ones, you find yourself making changes more easily in other areas and thus creating greater contentment with life.
Planning seems to me to be a never ending process. I’m never done planning. Plans change. Maybe you could elaborate more on what a person could do to be more efficient at planning.
Think of planning as three different goals – short, medium and long term plans.
1. Make a list of all the things you would like to do.
2. Put the items into three categories – short, medium and long term.
3. Prioritise each category so that the most important item is at the top of the list.
4. Choose a date of completion for each category
5. Set aside realistic time for the first item in each category
6. Take action!
7. Cross out each item as it is completed and feel great satisfaction!
Although you have a prioritised list of things to do, if the top item is simply making you procrastinate, then choose another item that you can take action on now.
For the short term planning, you may want to make alterations daily.
For the medium term planning, changes could be necessary once a week.
For the long term planning, perhaps set aside time to review the situation and make improvements to your plans once a month.
The timings I’ve given are general. It is important you choose your own time scale to fit in with your interpretation of short, medium and long term planning.