Proper planning can set you free

A friend told me how planning had changed his life. This man has a large family. He has four children of his own and he supports five others from his extended family.

As we chatted, he told me that a few years back he was in so much financial difficulty, that at any one time, a child would be sent home from school because of lack of fees.

This became so chronic that once one of his daughters had to repeat a class because of being absent from school for a better part of the year.

The situation at home was not any better. Even though this man had pretty reasonable salary, his situation was hand to mouth.

He would fork out money on a daily basis to buy the day’s meals. He had debts at the local kiosks and he perennially requested for an advance at the work place to push him to month end.

However, he told me “now things were working fabulously.”

So what changed?

He changed.

He decided to sit down with his wife and plan.

This was a comprehensive plan that would have survived any boardroom scrutiny. He looked at the year ahead, his fixed needs and broke them down.

A wise man said planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.

This is the essence of why planning matters.

Proper plans, however, when they are formulated in time help leaders (and that is what a parent is) to reach their goals, execute their projects and fulfil their vision.

Those who are successful have planned early, finding many benefits, including the following points.

Becoming proactive

Without proper planning, you cannot respond to challenges, hence we become reactive. Planning assists you to become proactive so that you can take the right action in the face of challenges.

As a result, you welcome every day, week and month because you are ready for any type of challenge.

When you are proactive, you respond to situations rather than react to them.

Engage your family

Team development is vital to success, projects and the family as a whole.

Teams suffer without plans. After a while, they experience external and internal conflict, which results in confusion, less creativity, low productivity, disassociation and subsequently failure.

When the right plan is designed for the right team, assigning tasks to team members can be done quickly and confidently.

For instance, my friend delegated the domestic budget and planning to his wife. He discussed the family finance with his children and asked them to come up with innovative ways of cutting down expenses.

Review and revise your plans regularly

Effective plans are revised and updated regularly. In fact, your original plans should and can evolve so you can stay on the right track and reach your destination. Keep track of your expenses and compare with previous months.

Check where you performed well or poorly and learn from the experience.

Celebrate the success of family finances.

Let everyone involved share their story of what their did to achieve the success and the lessons learnt.

The rewards do not have to be expensive. It could be a cup of tea with your family team.

Assess risks and opportunities

Planning gives you confidence to take the risks that others may not take and so this puts you ahead of the pack.

If you are not willing to take risks you may never fulfil your vision. However, if risks are not identified ahead of time through proper planning, taking risks may result in losses and adversity.

By planning, you can identify the associated risks, weigh and categorise them and generate a response plan.

In this way you can transform risks to opportunities and experience the rewards of taking them.

Planning helps you become assertive in taking risks and deciding on either conservative or aggressive approaches.