5 reasons to plan ahead in your career (and life)

I firmly believe you should plan ahead not only in your career but in every part of your life. Most of us go through life in a reactionary stage. We may plan a little. Perhaps you plan for your vacation or perhaps you are one of the few who plans ahead for retirement or college but most people react.

Plan ahead – You don’t want to just react

The word “reactor” isn’t even one we use regularly. But I suggest the majority of people are reactors. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines reactor as “one that reacts.” If you look up reacts: to behave or change in a particular way when something happens, is said.” We react.

Most people don’t plan

The dictionary defines plan as a method worked out in advance for achieving some objective.” Synonyms for plan are: arrangement, blueprint, design, game, game plan, ground plan, master plan, program, project, road map, scheme, strategy, and system.

Look at those words! When I read them, most of those words are exciting words for me. How about you? Don’t think about the work in planning, visualize the result. What would happen if you planned your career (or life?)

1. When you plan ahead, it is easier to reach your goals.
2. If you plan ahead, you can define the steps to your goals.
3. As you plan ahead, you can allocate resources to reach your goals.
4. When you plan ahead, you can have a blueprint to follow.
5. Plan ahead, you can visualize your success.

Bonus:

• When you plan ahead, you can have a back-up plan if your first plan fails.

Let’s talk about failure for a moment.

One of the reasons people fail to plan ahead is because they are afraid of failing. You have probably heard these statistics before but just to remind you, here are some people who failed described in the Business Insider article, “Successful people who failed at first”:

1. Winston Churchill was estranged from his political party over ideological disagreements during the “wilderness years” of 1929 to 1939.
2. Thomas Edison’s teachers told him he was “too stupid to learn anything.”
3. Oprah Winfrey was fired from her first television job as an anchor in Baltimore, where she said she faced sexism and harassment.
4. Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.”
5. In one of Fred Astaire’s first screen tests, an executive wrote: “Can’t sing. Can’t act. Slightly balding. Can dance a little.”

Stop being afraid of failure and start thinking of how to plan ahead. Don’t be a reactor.
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