How to Form a Plan

We all have problems in life we'd like to overcome. Sometimes we can just go straight into the problem with little thought beforehand, other times a plan is the better option. If you set out a plan, then the work of making it happen becomes much more clear, and even if you don't make the progress you want, you'll at least know how far you've progressed. Whatever happens, you had your own plan and even if it all goes wrong, you'll learn from it for next time.

Steps

1. Set aside time to do it. Forget internet / tv / conversation / music for a while and take time out on your own.
2. Write down what the problem is that you want to solve. Is something happening that's wasting your time in life? Are you having trouble in dealing with the opposite sex? Maybe you would just like to do better in something and feel you can form a plan to make it better.
3. Determine what's different about your current situation from what you want to have happen. How much better do you want to be, and when? What amount of time will you save? How will you get along with the opposite sex that's better than today?
4. Set a time limit for your plan by setting a realistic date for when you want to achieve some progress. Make sure to think about how 'big' your goal is, and the amount of change that will have to happen.
5. Put the work you need to do into groups or 'chunks', and put those in the proper order. Set some time limits for each that matches the completion date you picked.
6. Write all of your plan on one sheet of paper, or print it out that way. Include a time scale on the paper to show when each chunk of work should happen, and when you want to check progress you've made.

 

Tips

• Congratulate yourself on your plans and be excited about them.
• Remember that planning is just the work that turns chaos into error- don't expect that just because you created a plan, it's going to work perfectly without further effort.
• Think about your plan at a different time over a period of three days. If it seems stupid at any point during those three days, then change it.
• There's a weird sort of magic that happens when you write up your plan on the computer or on paper. It may feel silly or unnecessary, but try it. For more complicated plans it's pretty much the only way to go unless you enjoy making lots of adjustments as you go.
• When adding to the detail of your plan, try to suss out what could go wrong and develop contingency plans.
• For organizing your thoughts, try the freeware program Freemind. Known as a 'mind-map' program, it is flexible, easy to use, and most importantly, useful. A link to the main website (true to it's GNU, free-use roots, the main website is a wiki) is included below.