Planning is preparing a sequence of action steps to achieve your goals. If you do it effectively, you can reduce time and effort of achieving your goal. Each minute you spend planning will save ten minutes of execution. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
Your plan is your map and your direction in your life. Set your plans first so that you know where you stand, how much you have progressed towards your goal and how far are you from your destination. Just have the discipline to follow that direction and not stray off course. When you follow your plan, you won’t get lost.
One more reason why you need planning is the 80/20 Rule. By the numbers it means that 80 percent of your outcomes come from 20 percent of your inputs. You either spend much time on deciding what to do next, or you are taking many unnecessary, unfocused, and inefficient steps.
Figuring out ahead of time what you need to do to increase your chances in a situation where there is a high probability of rejection.
When you have time projection planned, you will know if something is achievable or not. You know if what you are doing is still within the plan.
Spend a few minutes each day to write a plan of the actions to be taken, in their specific order for the next day. This includes the recreational stuff like trips and taking breaks too. The beauty of doing this the day or night before, is that your subconscious gets to work on making sense of what needs to be done as you sleep too. Planning ahead will keep you consistent and clear, make you feel more focused and motivated to continue your work.
When you go to the grocery store, how often do you pick up an item that is not on your list? Does it hit you that it is not on your list? Do you have this argument in your mind that you should not buy it or else it will sabotage your budget?
Bottom line: Make a plan. Stick to the plan.