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“Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans.” -Peter F. Drucker
Do you know the feeling you get when you plan ahead for something?
It’s filled with optimism, excitement, anticipation, determination and drive.
Some of us may experience this with a vacation. eg. Next winter we plan to go to Kauai and do some kayaking.
We plan with our kids on what their future career might look like. My son Nick has had some very specific goals since he was young. He is on the road to his plan, even though he had to plan ahead for a very long time.
My friend Mike has been planning to take on more formal education, and plans to take his MBA in the fall of 2012.
Some plan to be 90 years old. My buddy Harvey has been planning this for years. 
Many people in my circle love their business and plan on growing it a particular size. They create a plan on how they will achieve this objective.
Some focus on health and wellness and plan to take up yoga, meditation and healthy eating and regular exercise….and some actually do it..!
The older I get and hopefully somewhat “wiser” I realize that many of the great and positive things that have occurred in my life were as a result of planning ahead. A main ingredient that goes with planning ahead is your desire and determination to follow through on your plans. Sometimes we simply get too busy to plan ahead and when the time arrives, nothing happened. You must ask yourself the question: Did I actually plan on making this happen?
Here’s a simple example that will hopefully resonate with everyone. If you attend an event and there is open seating, and you really want to get an awesome seat and see the performer, speaker, etc., you would likely plan to arrive earlier than most people. You actually have to plan ahead when doing this, however we see people arrive 5 minutes before the event and they looked surprised that all the good seats are gone. (Was that not expected?)
The key to planning ahead is that there needs to be some action taken today. eg. If you are having friends over next weekend for dinner, you actually need to invite them now. In the case of bigger plans, you may have a longer process and several steps to actually achieving the goal. In Mike’s case, he needs months of planning to ensure that he is ready to start his MBA in the fall. With a dream vacation you book months in advance for the perfect dates and location.
There are so many things we want to accomplish or do in life that planning is essential. Ironically, your journey is enhanced when you are able to plan on what you want. In my opinion, planning ahead allows you to “commit” to the future.
“Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now” -Alan Lakein
“Connecting the Dots of Life’s Journey”
Mike Mack
