IS THERE A BEST TIME TO PLAN FOR THE FUTURE?

If you are anything like me, it’s hard to turn off my thoughts sometimes. It keeps going and going and going, like that energizer bunny. Or is it Duracell? I don’t know.  Especially now, when we are in December, Christmas is coming up in a few weeks, the News Years. A lot of us get into making these new years resolutions. We start thinking about everything we want to do for the new year, and we do not complete half of them. So, is there a best time to plan for the future, acquiring minds want to know?

Depending on what plans you want to make for the future, you need to assess your current situation. What are your wants and your needs? We are emotional human beings. We get put in the mood when everyone around us has their shit together, and it seems like we are barely inching on.  You are the turtle, in the turtle and the rabbit race. The turtle ended up winning the race because he was slow and steady. But then again, who are you racing? Do your friends and family members even know that there competing? Probably, not! Are you wondering why you are, or other people are competing for the American Dream in a race with an endless, imaginary finish line?

We watch tv and want that great life, but some of us will settle for the American Dream. People keep talking about, generation after generation. Then again, the question is not is there a best time to plan for the future, but are you ready to make sacrifices to receive the future you want? When you think about it, you will always be busy, something always going to pop up that you must take care of, so there isn’t a suitable time. Why be the person that makes excuses, and you start putting things off to the next day, next week, next month, and next year? Nothing still isn’t done. You have the same life you have before.

You wake up feeling drained. You’re feeling exhausted because you’ve avoided, are in denial, fearful over the truth that is staring you in the face. You did not prepare yourself for the five-year plan or ten years plan down the road. You thought that you still had time, although you do. You weren’t ready for the overpouring of the sadness. The jealousy that creeps up inside you, the self-doubt that plagues your mind when you see the success in others because you chose to skip school, you decided not to study, take that job, or whatever the issue was, you decided not to choose. It would help if you released that negativity lying dormant inside you.

Why continue to walk around mad at the world, at people when all you got to do is right now is choose to make something of yourself, right now? Sometimes we allow our deep-rooted emotions to hinder us. We cover up with all the shades down, drapes closed because now, we don’t want the world to know that we failed. So, we put that pressure on the planet, on people we don’t even know or socialize with on an ongoing basis.  

I don’t even know you, and I don’t want that weight on my shoulders. So, STOP! Stop putting that weight on me, and I will stop putting the same weight on you.  Figure out what plans you want to make, how much it will cost, what sacrifices are you willing to make to accomplish your plans? And, then take action!! Because if you are waiting for the right time, it’s never going to come.

• Forget about your past mistakes, learn from them, and take that first step. What will you do in the next five years, the next ten years from now?
• Forget about what you didn’t do. What will you do now that will lead you where you want to be?
• What things do you need to get off your chest and release it?
• You need to decide on the various things you can do if things don’t work out. Don’t give up.

Everything you do has a cost, which can be beneficial or damaging. For example, the cost of staying in an unhealthy relationship or marriage is teaching your kids to do the same. The cost of constantly working and taking a vacation is you get burned out or being that absent parent, wife, or husband. The cost of planning and deciding not to bring your work home is happiness. Now you are showing you care about your partner or children’s feelings.  

The best time to make plans for the future is when you are ready to make sacrifices to better your life. It’s just empty words on a piece of paper without the dedication and willpower to take action. Remember what 2020 taught us: many businesses didn’t have any contingency plan and had to close their business. We can’t predict the future, but you can ensure your skills are updated. Your business can be versatile. Take our current situation as a learning lesson. Choose you! Take the necessary steps you need to take to make yourself marketable to achieve your goals.

But like the great Langston Huges states:

“I have discovered in life that there are ways of getting almost anywhere you want to go if you really want to go.”

Remember that future vision of yourself. Allow that future person to inspire you and allow that person to be the fire that fuels your passion for succeeding.