Never Look Again!

A famous study, done on a Harvard graduating class found that the 5% of that class who had a written plan for their life had success greater than the sum of the success of the other 95%. Now, you’d not be unreasonable to ask why the other 95% wasn’t taught to plan. I can speak to that issue – from personal experience. I spent the first 30 years of my working life in jobs where “planning” was what I did. And I can say with all due humbility (if that’s a word?) that I was better than good at it. But no one, in college or at work, every even broached the idea of a life plan. I had a plan of how to work the system in the company I started with. That plan went well I got every promotion that was available and I managed things so that more were available to me that to most people. But the company, very carefully, did not expose me to opportunities outside the box. I don’t blame them for that. They had a “position” that they needed filled and the person filling that position needed to be willing to work for what that position was worth to the company. It wouldn’t do for the person to get any ideas!

I got an offer to go with a competitor for a lot more money but the carefully crafted golden handcuffs caused me to pass it up. If I’d known how to plan, I’d have known how to evaluate the opportunity vs what I had. As it was, the decision was made on emotion – fear of the unknown.

If you don’t have a plan for your life which addresses your spiritual, family, career and physical needs and if you don’t update it regularly, you will come to the end of your life with a lot of coulda, should, woulda’s.