CHAPTER FOURTEEN
PLANNING: THE STRATEGY OF ACCOMPLISHMENT
“Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalms 90:12, NIV)
It is strategy that helps you prevent tragedy. If big goals will ever be achieved, then they must be properly planned for. Fulfillment is not a product of prayer; it’s a product of wise planning. Someone said prayer without planning is playing without knowing. If you ever find a man that dares to sit down to strategize, you have found a man who is bound to live a fulfilled life.
In one of Jesus’ most remarkable teachings, He asked a very important question: “for which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?” (Luke 14:28-WEB).
Here, Jesus creates a crystal clear picture of the nature of our journey through life. He likens man’s purpose –whatever it is, to a tower; one that can never be built except deliberate plans are drawn out.
The summary of what He’s saying is that; if you want to fulfill your destiny, then like a builder, you must plan every stage of your life properly. You never succeed at anything you are not prepared for.
It’s not enough to have an intention. Even the poorest person on earth has intentions. It’s not enough to have a desire. Even the most unaccomplished people on earth have big desires. Jesus warns; if your intentions and desires for life must see the light of the day, then you must sit and plan.
Purpose tells you where you’re going but planning tells you how to get there. Purpose defines your destiny, planning defines the process you must go through to fulfill it. The key to proper planning lies in strategy. Planning means “strategizing your way through”. Planning means knowing what it will cost you and deliberately formulating the proper process to accomplish it.
Another key to proper planning is methodology. Planning means “defining and refining your methods in order to achieve your dreams”. Every purpose has a method and until you follow the method you can’t fulfill it. And that’s what planning helps you to do.
Planning involves making detailed arrangements, putting every phase in order, not mixing things up incorrectly and knowing exactly when to take specific steps. Planning comes before pleasure. Your everyday life is worthless without wise planning. Simply put; planning gives worth and value to living.
Jesus in that verse meant to say that if you are a big dreamer, you must be a big planner too. If you have big dreams, you must create big plans and that must reflect in your everyday life.
However, a man’s capacity to plan for his future can be checked by how he organizes every single day that passes.
Paying the Price
Every prize is attracted by a price. Jesus clearly stated in our text that you must count the cost before your tower can be built. There is therefore a cost for every great achievement. There is no room for watchers in the mansion of life. Only those who count the cost have a room in it.
The process toward having a great life may not always be a comfortable one. You may require some difficult and painful training. However, it is the pain that makes the gain glorious. It is often said “No Pain, No Gain”. You must endure the pain of the process which includes discipline, hard work, training, prayers, patience, sacrifice and lots more.
The process toward accomplishment is like a furnace. The furnace is what refines your future but there’s a lot of pain in there, that’s why only those who have endurance can ever succeed. “And blessed is the man that endures temptations, for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life” (James 1:12). Sometimes, you may need to make certain sacrifices, abandon some things you enjoy and forget about some of the pleasure you are accustomed to. In fact, you may need to go through some pressure.
Take a clue from athletes. They deprive themselves of certain food, endure vigorous training schedules, and avoid some common habits. That’s the only way to be a star athlete. The race of life is just like that. If you want to get fulfilled, you may need to go through some temporary discomfort.
For every landmark there is a definite cost and until you pay the price relentlessly, you don’t stand the chance of obtaining the prize.
Prayer Does not Erase Planning
It is wonderful to be a vibrant praying Christian. As a matter of fact, prayer holds an essential part in ensuring spiritual growth and fulfilling destiny. Furthermore, Paul the apostle tells us to pray without ceasing, that is, we must pray continually.
It’s crucial for us to know however that prayer does not erase planning. In fact, planning time is not prayer time. It’s ok to pray about your plans but you must plan. Prayer can never take the place of planning.
David in Psalms 1:3 states clearly that God only prospers you when you are doing something about your goals. God does not answer prayers about things you have no plans for. He doesn’t want you to waste His blessings, therefore, only those who through strategy have drawn out their goals can attract help from God.
It is true that landmarks require knee marks (prayers), but knee marks also require plan marks (deliberate planning). You don’t go to sleep after praying. If anything will ever work, you must work it out.
The Bible says in Proverbs 25:2; “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing; but the honour of kings is to search out a matter”. God has in His unsearchable wisdom defined your purpose, but your duty is to properly dissect every stage and phase toward fulfillment through wise planning.
Talk To Yourself
You must have read about the lost son, popularly known as the prodigal son. His account is recorded in Luke chapter 15. His turning point was when he began to talk to himself. “And when he came to himself, he said; how many hired servants of my father’s house have bread enough to eat and to spare and I perish with hunger?” Luke 15:17.
If you are not making headway in your life, you need to start talking to yourself like the lost son did. That is the genesis of wise planning. Until you know what your problem is, and where you should be, you can’t sit down to strategize your way forward.
Like the prodigal son, there comes a stage in your life where there’s really no one else to talk to but yourself. You may not have squandered anything like he did; however, you’re probably desperate for a turning point and the way forward is to analyze yourself, know what problems there are around you and decide wisely how to scale through them.
It Requires Patience
Too many people never get to accomplish purpose because they have a problem with impatience. They rush to fix things up. Anything done in haste is almost never done well. Proper planning requires taking your time. In our main text for the chapter, Jesus tells us that if you want to build a tower, you must sit down and count the cost. That is, you must take your time.
If planning involves logical, rational and analytical reasoning toward achieving set goals, then you must give it the required amount of time. Competing with others will only get you into unnecessary haste and consequently ruin your plans doing that.
You must settle down mentally and position your mind to think properly, applying every life principle adequately in your pursuit of purpose.
Recently I was in a meeting where the minister who is a very reputable and well established man of God told the story of how he had made a very daft decision. In fact he lamented that he couldn’t believe that at that stage of his life, with all the experiences he had gathered, he could still make such a silly mistake.
That tells us that as humans, it’s in our nature to err and make certain mistakes as we drive toward fulfillment of purpose. That’s why it’s important to always know how to refine your plans in order to ensure proper execution of your goals.
Sometimes you may need to re-think. In some other cases you may need to have alternative plans for achieving particular goals. You may need a ‘plan B’ or ‘plan C’ for certain set goals. You don’t pour out all your eggs into one basket; similarly, you don’t depend on just one plan to achieve certain goals. If you are not sure of your strategy, get a plan B.
Mind Who You Discuss Your Plans With
Lastly, it’s important for you to know when to talk and who to talk to. There are certain kinds of persons referred to as enemies of progress. They may pretend to be your friends, however, deep within, they’re only interested in your downfall. You don’t reveal your plans to such persons. That’s why you need to pray for wisdom and sound discretion in choosing your friends.
Joseph thought that he’d be safe telling his dream to his brothers. But it proved otherwise. He got himself into slavery for not shutting his mouth. That means, not even everybody in your family can be trusted. In fact, the greatest enemies in most cases come from within the family.
Some people think little and they expect you to think little too. So when you walk up to them to tell them about a big goal that you want to achieve, they become uncomfortable. They’ll try to discourage you immediately, because their minds cannot handle big things.
You don’t need people who are always uncertain about progress. You need people who believe in possibilities. You need people who believe that little men can do big things. Mingle with such people and you’ll generate mutual motivation for advancement.