plans, Plans, PLans, PLAns, PLANs, PLANS

Plans dominate Everything.

Plans for different aspects of life including:

• Personal
• Professional
• Business-oriented
• Relational
• Adventurous
• Leisurely
• Et Cetera-ly

Our plans range from short-term to long-term and are often interchangeably used with the more idealistic idea of “Goals.” The difference to some people between those two words is simply the amount of emphasis placed on the plan.

“I plan on going to the gym later” vs. “I must go to the gym later to fulfill my goal” … or something of the sort.

Plans are, for the most part, forgotten or completely ignored. It’s a loose idea that’s easily excused. If I tell you I’m planning on doing something or going somewhere, let’s be honest, that’s a half-assed commitment that I probably won’t follow through on.

Goals – though they may be considered more serious – are sometimes just as easily forgotten after a quick whim of effort. Sadly, some people give up on their goals… and give up quickly. The New Year’s resolution to work out is one of the first to go. The first few to be given up are actually, “I won’t eat sugar” or “I am quitting alcohol” or “I will go to church more often” or “I will wake up at 6 a.m. every day and read my Bible before work.”

We all know John Lennon’s quote, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”How about that other quote saying something like, “The pathway to Hell is paved with Good Intentions.”

Me

Since I was a kid, I’ve made HUGE plans. Granted, some of them were ridiculous (i.e. owning a tiger, having super powers, playing baseball professionally, playing guitar, being a published writer, being paid to write, etc).

But, since I was a kid, I’ve followed through on A TON of my plans… or goals. In pursuing my goals, my writing has been published in literary magazines, trade magazines, newspapers and online. In November, I checked off another goal, I received my first paycheck for my writing. In January, I checked off another goal, I started writing a script for a movie.

Another goal I followed through on was not being unemployed right after graduation. I landed an internship at a swanky, very awesome PR firm that has changed my career pursuit.

My plans have been more than just “plans” throughout my life because of one two-letter word:

DO

All of this nonsense about plans and goals means nothing! None of it is worthwhile unless there is authenticity in one verb: DO.

This two-letter word, however seemingly simplistic, is sometimes as impossible as telling a lie with a gun to your head. To DO is to actually follow through with your plans and goals. To DO is to bloody your knuckles and ego. If we really did DO everything we plan, we’d be different people.

To DO means commitment to:

• Practice
• Pain
• Persistence

Those three P’s, especially Persistence eventually lead to Pleasure. The Pleasure of completing your plans or goals. Pain, AKA, failure seems impossible. When I’m told, “No,” it’s a shot to my ego. But this particular two-letter word is nothing more than a challenge. Though it may hurt my toes and legs, it’s a stumbling block that is too insignificant to stop me.

So?

My whole idea behind this is to make you (more so me, actually, because I think through writing) think about your established plans. What are you planning on doing?

• Get a job?
• Diet?
• Work out?
• Read your Bible?
• Write?
• Play guitar?

None of these things will come into fruition unless you DO and persist in DOing. This verse from Isaiah puts it perfectly, “But the noble man makes noble plans, and by noble deeds he stands.”

The noble man DOes. Though his plans may be noble, they mean nothing unless he forces himself to DO. It’s by completing his plans that he stands… That sounds a bit cheesy… Respectable people are only respectable because of their accomplishments. Steve Jobs didn’t just plan Apple, he followed through. He busted his balls with DO.

So what are your plans? How can you DO?

How can I help you DO?