Why Long Term Planning Works

If you can begin to develop your ability to think long term about your life, then you will harness one of the most powerful tools for success that exists in the universe.

Why is long term planning so effective? Because it allows you to have SPACE. If you can see the big picture, and where you are ultimately headed 5, 10, or even 20 years down the road, then you will have a vast amount of mental space in which to plot different routes to your objective. Space provides freedom of movement, which allows you many options to reach your ultimate goal.

When you have options, several things happen. You become much less afraid, because you know you have layers of contingency plans if things go wrong. You know that the current situation is only a means to an end, and there are many means to the same end. You will know where to constructively direct your resources. You will not throw your time, energy, and money away on something that does not coordinate with your long term strategy. You also become creatively discontented with mediocrity, because you know that chances are, you can find a better way to keep moving forward towards your goals if you leave your current mediocre situation.

People who don't think long term REACT, instead of ACTING. They respond to events that continue to box them in, taking away their mental space and leaving them with few options. These people then escape from the situation instead of using proactive strategic thinking, and thus make the situation far worse.

So if you can take some time each day to determine what you really want, and begin to construct a roadmap to that life, and continue to refine and expand this vision everyday, then you will be able to circumvent the negative episodes in your life, you will walk right around them. You will have such a deep understanding of what it is you are doing and why, that surface level circumstances will not be able to affect you in any significant way.

The man who plans long term is like a pilot in an airplane with highly sophisticated navigational equipment. He can see everything, and chart his course accordingly. The man who never takes time to plan or think long term is like a person wandering through alleyways at night; he will never reach his true destination because he cannot even see it, and sooner or later he will reach a dead end.

 

I agree that it can seem very challenging to figure out what you want in life and how to achieve it, but ultimately a person must undertake that challenge if they want the reward of being in control of their own destiny. Otherwise, someone else will gladly be in control, which is what most people want. They don't want responsibility.

I started with the question: what makes me truly happy? The answer that I found was simple: freedom. Freedom from negative situations makes me happy, freedom from being stuck doing something I don't like, etc. Also, using my mind to think creatively and discover new things makes me happy.

So with this starting point I began looking at all the things that I am actually DOING now day to day, and make a decision as to whether these things bring more freedom, or less. If they bring more freedom, I attempt to do more of them, if they curtail my freedom, I cut them out of my life.

It is amazing what happens when you make a conscious decision to find out what you truly want and then figure out how to attain that. Everyday motivates you and gives you a sense that you are in control and are designing your life and your future.

But you have to take that first step by writing it down. Writing is the key. Everyday, writing and asking questions...

 

Thanks man. Glad it helped you out.
Shoot me a PM sometime.