If You Don’t Plan Your Life, Someone Else Will
They say death and taxes are the only two sure things to happen. I would like to add a third to this list. “If you don’t plan your life, someone else will.”
Many of my coaching clients and workshop attendees tell me they feel like they are being bounced around from situation to situation in their life and work. They feel like everyone else is controlling their lives, especially their work life. I know I am showing my age, but I always think of a pinball machine from days gone by to illustrate this.
The pinball starts out in a track and is shot down that track by a plunger. Pulling back the plunger represents your education and training. It gets you ready to take action. Once you have prepared yourself, you release the plunger. You take off on track with your career, while going a million miles an hour and going in a very focused direction. Everything is great, until you leave that track.
Personal and professional changes occur causing you to get off the initial track you started on. The changes you encounter can be both good and bad. You may get a promotion, get married, have children, or move to another part of the country. You may get downsized or experience a business or personal setback as well.
Everyone likes the pinball machine of life when things are going great and we are racking up all the big points. However, soon you can be bounced around from situation to situation. You can feel completely out of control — bouncing from job to job, company to company. It’s in times like these you may realize other people are making decisions which affect every area of your life.
In order to change this you must be proactive instead of reactive. When you feel bounced around and out of control, you are being reactive. When you are reactive instead of proactive, having someone else plan your life happens by default. Remember — if you don’t plan your life, someone else will.
When you allow someone else to plan your life, they are deciding the house you live in, the car you drive, the schools you choose, the amount of vacation time you have, the clothes you wear and the food you eat. I am not saying they are evil or trying to force you live a certain lifestyle. However, if you don’t take control of your life and plan it out, this is exactly what happens.
A reactive person waits until they lose a job to find another one. A proactive person doesn’t wait until they lose a job to search for another job. They begin to do a job search for something better suited for their passions, skills and personality. They don’t wait to react to something that happens — they go make it happen. Are you proactive or reactive?
With all the changes you experience in life you can get caught up in just reacting to what life brings. You need to be proactive and plan out your life, career and business. Planning your life starts with asking some basic questions. What does your ideal life look like? What type of work brings you the greatest joy? Take the time to dream and think big as you answer these two simple questions. I hope you are able to fill up an entire page or more with the answers to each question. Remember, if you don’t plan your life, someone else will.