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The power of planning ahead

This is Napoleon Hill Foundation's 'Thought of the Day' for August 11, 2004. Powerful stuff, no?

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Many years ago, the commencement speaker at a prestigious university asked all members of the graduating class who had a definite plan for their lives to hold up their hands. As he looked around the room, only three hands were raised. Twenty-five years later, when the class held a reunion, the combined net worth of those three individuals exceeded that of the remainder of the class. People who know where they are going always achieve far greater levels of success than those who merely drift through life, expecting circumstances to create opportunities for them. Successful people create their own opportunities by focusing on goals with an intensity that borders on obsession. In this way, every action moves them toward their goal.

No excuses for poor planning and bad decisions.

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Originally posted by rabbitjoker No excuses for poor planning and bad decisions.

Hah, if only the average person even got THAT far! Most people have NO plans and expect others to make decisions for them.

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Originally posted by d!abolic Hah, if only the average person even got THAT far! Most people have NO plans and expect others to make decisions for them.

I planned out my life but i dont know if i want to end up there. id rather have an impact on this earth then have alot of money.so either i make my money like i planned and give back or dedicate my life to making a change. but the question i come across is what time of change do i want to make. after i figure that out even harder i have to figure out a plan

When I was in Gr. 10 I decided I wanted to be an interior designer, I still want to be and in 4 years I will be !

I have some friends who are in thier second year of university and have no idea what they want to do. If that was me, I would be freaking right out !! I think it is so important to have a plan, or at least have a few options in your mind that are possible.

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Originally posted by Vivid Boy I planned out my life but i dont know if i want to end up there. id rather have an impact on this earth then have alot of money.so either i make my money like i planned and give back or dedicate my life to making a change. but the question i come across is what time of change do i want to make. after i figure that out even harder i have to figure out a plan

I was at that cross-roads myself recently. Then i realized that it takes a lot of money, power and connections to make a difference in the world, and that there isn't a conflict of interest here, meaning i can go ahead and make my money and then use it to help myself and others.

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Originally posted by PartEgurl When I was in Gr. 10 I decided I wanted to be an interior designer, I still want to be and in 4 years I will be ! I have some friends who are in thier second year of university and have no idea what they want to do. If that was me, I would be freaking right out !! I think it is so important to have a plan, or at least have a few options in your mind that are possible.

That's great, way to go! People who don't know what they wanna do by their late teens generally end up nowhere.

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Originally posted by d!abolic I was at that cross-roads myself recently. Then i realized that it takes a lot of money, power and connections to make a difference in the world, and that there isn't a conflict of interest here, meaning i can go ahead and make my money and then use it to help myself and others. That's great, way to go! People who don't know what they wanna do by their late teens generally end up nowhere.

i figured the same thing..but to make a lasting change u have to start when ur young and hungry..makin a couple of mill is gonna take a while

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Originally posted by Vivid Boy i figured the same thing..but to make a lasting change u have to start when ur young and hungry..makin a couple of mill is gonna take a while

It depends on how you approach it. Using conventional methods, it could easily take a lifetime, but that doesn't mean it can't be done in a small fraction of that time by using your imagination. It seems that people who really get the hang of it jump from one level to another pretty quickly. I've seen people triple (or more) their income every year for a number of consecutive years. The only reason they eventually slow down is because they end up with more money than they can find a use for, lose their burning desire for it, and with it their ambition to make more of it. Anyway, to quote Hill some more...:

"When riches come, they come so quickly, and in such abundance, that one wonders where they've been hiding all these years."

I planned not to plan, thus I know I will succeed

When I first graduated from high school ('99), I totally knew what I wanted to study... administration of justice (criminal law). I studied it for 2 years. I wanted to get into forensic science, detective, or maybe parole/probation officer. I went on trips to the LAPD (los angeles police dept.) a few times, I did volunteer work at the Torrance Superior Court. I was so sure that I would end up in some type of career that had to do with criminal law.

Then after 2 long years, I decided that criminal law just isn't for me. I realized that I didn't agree with alot of the stupid laws we have here. I can't picture doing this for the rest of my life.

Then I got into cosmetology. I like make-up, and art, etc... so I did some research on cosmetlogy to see what I would be getting myself into... do they make enough money? is it in high demand? how stressful is it? I realized they don't make even close to the amount of money I would want to make.

So now, I'm still trying to decide what I want to do. Some people (like me), do plan out what they want, but sometimes, it doesn't turn out the way they thought it would...

IMHO, planning too far ahead makes life boring..

I do have short term plans for a year or so ahead, but I don't have any plans for anything beyond that timeframe.

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Originally posted by Durafei IMHO, planning too far ahead makes life boring..

and stressful

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Originally posted by Miss Julia and stressful

That's my take on it. The problem with *too much* planning is that you become far-sighted and don't see things in perspective like you do in the present. So minor roadblocks appear ominous because you can't think of a way to get past them, whereas when they're right in front of you it's easy. Think of when you're driving down a country road and see one of those "winding road" signs - no matter how much it winds, there isn't anything you can do to plan except slow down and wait until you're actually on it.

Thinking too far ahead just stresses you out because you can't predict the way things will happen. I used to be so closed off and irritable because I'd always be worrying about something, until the ass-raping of EE taught me not to care so much about stupid shit.

"Those that fail to plan, plan to fail."
How's that for a kick in the nuts?

and of course, "You are where you are because you want to be".

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Originally posted by DigiNut That's my take on it. The problem with *too much* planning is that you become far-sighted and don't see things in perspective like you do in the present. So minor roadblocks appear ominous because you can't think of a way to get past them, whereas when they're right in front of you it's easy. Think of when you're driving down a country road and see one of those "winding road" signs - no matter how much it winds, there isn't anything you can do to plan except slow down and wait until you're actually on it. Thinking too far ahead just stresses you out because you can't predict the way things will happen. I used to be so closed off and irritable because I'd always be worrying about something, until the ass-raping of EE taught me not to care so much about stupid shit.

I'll agree with the notion that "too much" planning is actually a problem. As mentioned: small things seem almost impossible to overcome. At the same time, you have to have some kind of ROUGH plan for what you want to do. Eg. go to university, aim for X percent, then graduate programs or work in Y amount of time.

At the same time you can't plan it to the point where the future is all you ever look forward to, and the present becomes nothing but a means to an end. Along with that, life is a journey, not a destination.

Look, it's easy.
Have a goal (the future), write it down and find a means to acheive that goal (the present).
Quit dreaming of a perfect past and stop acting so stunned in the present.
"If you don't have a plan for yourself, you'll be part of someone else's"

Tomorrow - I plan to have knackwurst for dinner.

This I know I can acheive. Giddy-up!

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Originally posted by aarontrance I'll agree with the notion that "too much" planning is actually a problem. As mentioned: small things seem almost impossible to overcome. At the same time, you have to have some kind of ROUGH plan for what you want to do. Eg. go to university, aim for X percent, then graduate programs or work in Y amount of time.

Might work for some people but even that's not always good. I thought I knew what I wanted to do since I was 6 years old but when I finally started moving in that direction I suddenly realized it was totally not where I wanted to be. And since I was so set on that plan, it's hard to put things in perspective now.

I guess the point is, plan, but be prepared to improvise when things don't go according to plan. Don't depend too much on a specific path through life.

life must be so boring if you know exactly what you want to do and do that way. I know roughly what i want to be, but i'm far from sure, i don't think that will be a problem though... for example i always had a "dream" to study *somewhere* abroard, now i will go to canada... i didn't plan when i was 10 that "when i'm 18 i want to go to ontario and study one year at high school" but just some rough planning... so that didn't make me dissapointed if i didn't go to that exact place or so... so just some not-so-exact goals are the best imo...

short time planning is also boring, take life as it comes and it will be much funnier...

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Originally posted by Durafei IMHO, planning too far ahead makes life boring.. I do have short term plans for a year or so ahead, but I don't have any plans for anything beyond that timeframe.

Yeh, I agree 100%. Planning your life out to the end sounds a little too much like fate and that's something i can't subscribe to. Gotta have some spice in my life.

I'm a big fan of the 2-year plan (like the 5-year plan, but without the communism )

No one said you had to be fascist about how you get to the end as long as the end is always in mind...
Of course you HAVE to have fun along the way...but don't be aloof either...
If you don't look to where you're going, you probably won't like where you end up...

I've got a couple plans, but the scary thing is that the one idea that my father ever gave as to what I should do with my life is both the most feasible and most likely lucrative of them. Ack, a great man once told me "It doesn't matter what you think, your parents are always right!" It seems he may be right.

Personally I am a planner and it's my nature to plan things ahead, I guess I got some of it from my mother...however you can't plan everything and some things are actually better left unplanned.
And in regards to those guys in school that didn't have a plan...well it's not so easy. It's easy to say you should plan if you're actually KNOW what youre planning for...a lot of people really don't know what they want - therefore they can't actually plan anything. On the other hand some people do know and plan it well, but what if things change, what if the end result is now something different. Some people just don't know when to stop and think, and say...gee that plan isn't good anymore...so they end up old and thinking, wait a minute...I've been chasing the wrong thing in my life. I definitely wouldn't want to be that guy.

The more I plan ahead in my future, the more I realize I don't have much planned at all.. It all seems perfect at one point, but it's never stable like this.

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Originally posted by PartyHarlequin Ack, a great man once told me "It doesn't matter what you think, your parents are always right!" It seems he may be right.

Did your DAD say that?

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