Dealing with Time
Any plan is somewhat similar to a schedule. In a plan you are estab-
lishing priorities about time.
Most parents decide time issues for their children. My mother
(PL) fed me on a schedule given to her by the pediatrician. It was
always a rush. She shoveled in the food faster than I wanted it.
Later, when I mastered the spoon, she told me that I ate too fast. (I
know, tough childhood.) I concluded that other people make the
decisions about time and speed, that they do so in an inconsistent
manner, and that my preferences about time and speed are less im-
portant than theirs.
You do not need an experience like this to convince you that
other people are in charge of time. Most parents put their children
to bed when the parents are tired. In school, other people deter-
mine the schedule; determine how many years you must attend to
reach graduation. Military training, of course, takes this to an ex-
treme. At a job, your employer determines your work schedule,
time off, and vacations. You may influence the schedule a little, but
the negotiation is probably not on an adult–adult basis.
To succeed with planning, you may need to place yourself in
charge of time. The interactive affirmation process in Chapter 9
can help with this a great deal.
Which Goals Do You Plan For?
During the next five years, changes will occur in your life. Who will
decide what these changes are? Will they be changes you made or
things that happened to you? If you have no goals and no plans to
carry them out, the changes are likely to be determined by some-
one else or by outside forces. You will not be satisfied with changes
you do not consciously ask for. This is the magic of goals. If you al-
low yourself to think about it, there are many, many things you
want: things you would like to accomplish, changes you want in
your relationships, in your health, things you want to learn. Having
written goals gives you the opportunity to make the improvements
you prefer.
Goals focus your time and energy on those desires that are most
important to you. Without goals, it is easy to waste time and energy
on things that don’t matter very much. (Television and surfing the
Web are currently popular time-wasters.) Another possibility is that
Which Goals Do You Plan For? 253