Developing a strategy to accomplish desired goals, resolve issues, and promote action is often referred to as planning. Setting objectives and outlining the steps for a later event necessary to reach those goals is the process of future planning.
A person with an intellectual or developmental disability (I/DD) may lead a fulfilling life as independently as possible with the help of future planning. A plan is crucial at every stage of life, but it becomes much more crucial later when the parent or caregiver can no longer assist the child.
The desires of the person with their parents, siblings, extended family, friends, and other significant persons in their life, should be reflected in a person-centered plan. Below are the benefits of planning for the future.
Benefits Of Planning For The Future
1. A Sense Of Purpose
Planning your future effectively gives you a distinct feeling of purpose. You act toward yourself and your life accordingly. If you’re sad, you won’t pay much attention to what you need. When you’re upbeat and content, your future is clearly in sight. You may see your goals and the path you’ll take to get there. Knowing your objectives can help you secure your future, so try to identify yours and act on them.
2. Goals Give You Focus
You can concentrate by making definite objectives and writing them down. You are no longer required to experience overwhelm. You can do whatever you need to accomplish and have plenty of time to do it. You may focus on the things that matter most to you, making everything else far less significant. Putting your objectives down is simply the first step toward achievement since your goals are what keep you motivated and driven.
3. Control
To exert control over your life is a major motivation to plan it. Even if 90% of what is happening around you is out of your control, having a strategy will help you ensure that you have a firm grasp on the remaining 10%.
Setting objectives, planning, taking action, and delegating are all control mechanisms you may use to sail the boat of your life, no matter how the wind or the sea blows. If you only hang on to the boat’s sides and hope it doesn’t capsize, you can live. But wouldn’t it be wiser to stay clear of trouble when the chance arises?
Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now. Planning might help you take some control throughout your life. Of course, because of your circumstances, you could compromise, but at the very least, you are aware of what is happening to you and can decide what to do next.
It is far preferable to fail and understand how you got there instead of suddenly finding oneself at the bottom of the barrel and wondering, “What happened?” Then, when you have a plan, you may learn from setbacks and disappointments so that you won’t repeat them in the future.
4. Decision-Making
Making meaningful choices is more difficult when no preparations are made for the future. The options available are meaningless because you lack direction and choose the simplest ones.
When you have a strategy, your decisions are influenced by your ultimate objective. For example, you enroll in an aeronautical engineering course because you want to make airplanes. You enroll in a cooking school to learn how to cook well. You decide to forgo purchasing a second vehicle to save money for a wedding or a home, and knowing that every decision you make impacts your life plan might help you choose wisely.
5. Security
Planning can help you minimize risks by preparing for the unexpected. Most of it is covered by insurance, but you still need to secure other things. For example, choose a profession that offers a decent work-life balance to spend time with your family and create a solid bond with them.
John Maxwell, a writer, asserts that time management is an oxymoron. The clock continues to run no matter how we spend our lives since time is something we cannot control. To make the most of the time we have, prioritize our tasks.
Make time for personal growth to advance as a person. Make an effort to maintain friendships and a fulfilling social life. When you take every precaution possible, you will feel secure, eliminating constant anxiety and allowing you to be more productive.
6. Delegation
Some individuals believe that the busier they keep their schedules, the more productive they will be. Poor or nonexistent planning and the inability to refuse are to blame for this; both are enemies of productivity.
Everyone has limitations; therefore, trying to accomplish everything often leads to activities being left unfinished or being executed poorly. Planning your life offers you a solid notion of what you can do at a specific time and what chores you can assign to others to complete them more effectively. For example, a business analyst can do the task more effectively and quickly if you are in sales and need to calculate a client’s return on investment.
Every day and night, you must concentrate on the most crucial, mission-critical jobs, and then you may share, delegate, postpone, or omit the others.
This is true for all aspects of your life, not just business. For example, you can save time by organizing your day and assigning whatever you can’t do yourself or something; someone else can perform more effectively and quickly.
7. Strategy
Though we may not be aware of it, every one of us employs some strategy during the day. For example, since it makes no sense to do things the other way around, we take a shower before dressing. However, since they don’t have a strategy, many individuals chaotically spend their life.
Because you live in the now, you don’t apply any tactics to do jobs more quickly or effectively. You lack vision since you don’t have a strategy. You struggle on till you finally get someplace. If you’d started with a strategy, you may have accomplished that goal more swiftly or easily.
There are several ways to achieve a specific objective, and a strategy’s worth lies in achieving that goal most effectively and feasible.
Some people think it’s best to let things happen and go with the flow; that approach may work for a while. But if you don’t plan for the crucial things in your life, you can find yourself with nothing.
8. Success
Success is the final—though most important—reason to make a life plan. Success is a weird word since it is a relative concept. However, it means different things to different people at different stages of life, which is why having a plan is crucial.
The objectives you establish determine your concept of success and who you are in your current circumstances. For example, for very young individuals, success is being wealthy, famous, or having a combination of both. However, these objectives may alter as individuals become older to incorporate fewer material goals like having a pleasant family life or following a hobby.
The key is that no matter what stage of life you’re in, having a plan may help you succeed. It is a road plan with several destinations, and by following it, you may more swiftly and mindfully complete each leg of your life’s trip.
“Success is to be evaluated not so much by the position one has attained in life as by the barriers which he has conquered,” remarked educator and novelist Booker T. Washington. Reflecting on your accomplishments and how they were made possible—not by chance but on purpose—marks you as genuinely successful.
Conclusion
Future planning gives direction for action by outlining how work is to be done. Planning ensures that objectives and goals are well stated so that they may serve as a guide for choosing what action to take and in which direction.
Frequently Asked Questions
It helps you reach your goals. Estimating when the business can achieve its objective helps decision-making and creates a time range. Planning, in particular, aids in critically evaluating the aim to determine its viability.
- Start by listing all of the goals you have for your life.
- Then, focus on your top three objectives.
- It’s time to create an action plan after you have your objectives.
- Last but not least, anticipate making adjustments along the road.
Before you take action, during that action, and after that action, planning pays dividends. The most apparent advantage of planning is that it enables you to foresee potential occurrences, helping you avoid preventable issues and seize favorable possibilities.
A solid plan is built on clear, well-defined, and understandable goals. Generally, goals like boosting morale or earnings are ill-defined and do not lend themselves to detailed processes and strategies. For simplicity, goals must, if feasible, be quantified.
Planning enables us to identify potential barriers to our goal’s achievement and potential facilitators and choose what to do about each. Making plans enables us to take responsibility for our actions.
Reference
- https://opentextbc.ca/businessopenstax/chapter/make-your-future-happen-learn-to-plan/
- https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-principlesofmanagement/chapter/reading-pros-and-cons-of-planning/
- https://futureplanning.thearc.org/pages/learn/future-planning-101
- https://www.bustle.com/articles/126929-6-tips-for-planning-for-your-future-even-when-it-seems-super-far-away
- https://choma.co.za/articles/1174/Why-you-should-plan-for-your-future
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