Dear Destiny Friends,

Everyone, without an iota of doubt is familiar with these sayings; failing to prepare is preparing to fail; the journey of life begins with a right step in the right direction; whatever you don’t manage, you lose it, and if you don’t plan your life, somebody will plan it for you.

On the surface, it is easy to regurgitate these sayings, but difficult to implement them. These four quotes or statements are the summary of planning your life if you really want to make an impact.

Planning one’s life is not as easy as it appears, it comes with diverse processes, especially when there is a targeted objective, goal, mission or vision. During planning, one is likely going to experience frustration, disappointment, failure, stress, depression among others. However, one will have to be focused and determined on the task. This is simply because a lot of variable interests will be battling for your time.

The first step in planning one’s life is to know oneself and then decide what you want. You can’t plan your life if you don’t know who you are, and what you want. It’s sad to note that most people are confused about life. They just exist as opposed to living.

As human beings, we all have different test books as well as different interests in life, just like our choices differ when it comes to the kind of house we would like to build, the kind of major we would like to study in college, the kind of partner we would want to have as a friend, mentor, spouse, etc., the kind of career we would like to explore, the kind of business we would like to engage it. The list is literally endless.

So, when you decide on what you want, the next step is to map out a strategic plan to actualize it. It’s instructive to note that nobody will sing your song or write your story more than you. You are the orchestrator of your life, and if you are not intentional in fixing it, you might end up living your life by chance.

It’s quite unfortunate to see how we miss opportunities in life due to lack of understanding and poverty mentality. We fail to understand that sometimes opportunities don’t really come to us, we must create and nurture it like relationships, and this entails planting, watering the seed, removing the weeds and  adding manure, before harvesting will take place. All this entails planning.

When you plan and fail, please don’t be hard on yourself. Life happens to everyone. I have planned numerous times and failed woefully. I have failed in managing friends and life challenges. Did I get stuck there, no. I learnt from my mistakes, and improved myself.

It’s not the day you plant a crop that you  harvest. You must take time to cultivate the crop by managing it well, and where you fail to manage it, you might lose it.

According to Myles Munroe, “whatever you don’t manage, you lose it” If you don’t manage your business, marriage, academic, relationship, health, opportunities and position, you are bound to lose them. Nothing is guaranteed in life, just like no condition is permanent. That’s why we must be intentional in living a fruitful life by planning our lives.

The people we see today as successful are people who have paid the price by planting seeds many days, weeks, months, years, decades, and tens of decades during their silent days. Those were the years they were planning their lives. The good news is that everyone has the potential and opportunity to exceed expectations if they remain focused.

It’s sad to see people operate on chance. While luck does exist, one must be prepared to grab the opportunity. Most times, when I people say to me, you’re blessed, lucky, privileged, intelligent, and so on, I just smile in my heart knowing full well that I have done some work to be where I am. It’s worthy of mention that I have written and spoken about my life in recent times. Of interest are some of the books, articles, and networks which have exposed me to numerous opportunities. Most of these opportunities were because of the work I have done in the past.

Note that every day is an opportunity to amend the past or build a better tomorrow. You have the choice to wake up every day with a renewed mandate to correct the errors of yesterday, make adequate use of today and prepare for tomorrow, or continue to remain stuck in the past. According to a philosopher, every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future. So don’t be hard on yourself if you have missed it.

Here is a practical step to assist you to plan your life.

Create a vision board

In this vision, you will have to write what you would love to accomplish. Affirm it every morning and look at it every night. Your vision will enable you to have a mission. It’s in your vision that one can determine your values and interest in life.

Perform an assessment

This is one area most people fail to take serious attention. As human beings, we don’t take time to examine ourselves, strengths, weaknesses, personality, technical and soft skills to see how we can fit into the big picture. Most people don’t accept criticisms with kindness.

According to Socrates, an unexamined life is not worth living. You can’t be doing the same thing everyday and expect to have a different result. If you have tried a process several times and it’s not giving you the desired result, how about you reach out to friends, mentors and experts for advice.

Action plan

The next stage is implementation and execution. Talk is cheap if it’s not implemented. No matter the passion, drive, skills, belief, knowledge etc. one may have, if you have not taken the bold step to implement it, it will be mere wishes. Part of my success is because of my books, articles, business, and network. Imagine if I have not taken the bold step to do the work, these opportunities won’t be at my disposal.

When implementing your plans, also look at what is working and what’s not working. You don’t have to be sentimental about it. Your family, friends, job, wellness, finances, home environment, and many other areas of your life can be both sources of joy and stress depending on how you handle them. If you don’t plan your life, they will assist you to plan it.

One of the major mistakes most people make is not being truthful to themselves. One of the worst things, if not the worst thing anyone can indulge in is to lie to himself. You can lie to others, but you can never lie to yourself. If you do, that’s tantamount to suicidal.

In conclusion, I don’t know what your storyline is about, today, I urge you to take time to examine your life, write down your ideas, and get to work by exploring people and organizations that will assist you to design your destiny.

Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator.  He’s the founder of Gloemi. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate, creative writer and author of Design Your Destiny Design Your  and Unleash Your Destiny .  He can be reached via info@gloemi.com