This One Powerful Act Could Change the Entire Trajectory of Your 2015
29 Dec 2014
Have you ever wondered why you seem to find yourself in the same place year after year? Are you praying for things to change, but not really seeing much happening? Have you begun to doubt your purpose because it doesn’t seem like your dreams are ever going to become a reality? After listening to a life-changing speech by the late Dr. Myles Munroe, my perspective has been completely transformed on this one powerful principle that has the potential to change my life.
About a month ago, a friend of mine introduced me to the work of Dr. Myles Munroe—an internationally-renown speaker, pastor, author and leader. Ironically, it was the same day that his plane, which was carrying him, his wife and several members of their congregation, crashed on the way to his annual Global Leadership Forum in the Bahamas. But despite the fact that Dr. Munroe is no longer physically here, he left behind such an incredible legacy that his spirit will live on for generations through the powerful body of work he created in his lifetime. In one presentation that Dr. Munroe gave at the beginning of 2014, he spoke about the number one principle of success. This one principle is the thing that will give life to your vision and flight to your dreams. It will literally change your life. The principle is: PLANNING.
It sounds like such a simple thing, but the reality is: simple doesn't always mean easy. If you want to make those things that are part of your vision a reality, you’ve got to plan for them! All the wishing, thinking, hoping, and praying in the world isn’t going to help you if you’re not already doing your part to make things happen. One of the most brilliant analogies given by Dr. Munroe was comparing your plans (or lack thereof) to a ship. If the ship isn’t moving, it can’t be steered in any direction. It has to have some kind of momentum in order for it to reach its destination. In other words:
Only a moving ship can be steered in the direction it wants to go.
How powerful is that! So many of us sit around waiting for the right time, the right opportunity, the right outfit to begin making progress towards the goals we have set for ourselves. We talk about what we’re going to do, where we want to go, who we want to meet—but how often do we talk about how we’re planning on getting there? The key is in the planning. There is a saying that goes: “You shouldn’t begin your day until you’ve finished it on paper.” You’ve got to plan your day, your month, your year, and your priorities, or you’ll never reach your destination. Here are some key takeaways from Dr. Munroe that I hope will get your light bulb turned on and burning brightly as you get ready to jump into 2015:
-
You become successful when you manage time and change. The only regulator of time and change is planning.
-
When you have a plan, you take control of the activities in your environment. You resist good opportunities because they are not the right opportunities.
-
Leaders are actually initiators. Leaders don’t wait. They know that they can’t stop change, but they can plan for it.
-
A plan is the skeleton of the body of a dream. Plans wake up your dreams and give life to them.
-
Planning is the management of the distance between your conception and your destination.
-
Whatever you are believing for, plan for. Planning is proof that you have faith. In fact, the greatest act of faith is planning.
(Now this one gave me pause, because for so many years, we’ve heard that old adage that “The best way to make God laugh is to make plans.” But when I thought about it, it doesn’t make sense because God is the ultimate planner. He doesn’t leave anything to chance. I think we need to change the saying to, “The best way to make God move is to plan—just be flexible in how you get to your destination.”) -
You don’t need money first. God says: “I didn’t ask you to get the money. I commanded you to plan. Give me something to do. And don’t give me anything small. I want to look like God.” (Or as I like to say, “Go big or go home.”)
- If you ask God to guide you, you better have a plan as to your destination. Have clarity. The reason you feel like God has been so far from you is because He doesn’t know where you want to go.
A plan activates God.
-
God gave you imagination so you can visit the future, take a tour of it, and then develop a plan to go there.
- Never allow what you didn’t do to stop what you could do.
This last quote is so key. I have to admit that it took me awhile to get unstuck after my second business started going downhill during the recession. I was used to being successful in everything I did so failure was a hard pill for me to swallow. There were so many things I had planned on doing that I never got to. So instead of looking at my many successes, I concentrated on the fact that I thought I had failed. So why bother trying again? How about I just go and get myself a full-time job? Not. I wasn’t wired that way.
What it’s taken me some time to understand is that failure is one of the most important keys to success. You learn from your failures and determine what you need to do differently—better—in your next venture. When I think about the fact that I have so much left in me to birth into reality, I certainly don’t have time to let one failure stop me. In fact, I stopped looking at my failures as negative and decided to use a phrase coined by one of my favorite speakers, Lisa Nichols: “They’re not failures, they’re feedback.” Now use that feedback to make your next chapter even better than the last!
So as you begin to envision what 2015 is going to look like for you, make sure you go past just creating the vision and put a plan in place to make that dream a reality. It doesn’t have to be complicated or perfect. I’ve learned that:
“Perfection is the enemy of progress.”
But your plan does need to be written down so that you have a road map to get you to your desired destination. As they say, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.”
As you plan your way to success in 2015, don’t forget to:
“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and all your plans will succeed.” (Proverbs 16:3)
If you're a Purpose-Driven Woman ready to commit to your success in 2015, then you absolutely need to get yourself a copy of the Whose Shoes 2015 Transformational Calendar & Planner. My sister, Christine and I, created it with you in mind. The 6×9" Personal Planner features:
- 88 pages of Monthly goal-setting
- Inspirational quotes
- A theme for every month to keep you focused
- Action steps for successful goal-setting & implementation
- Action steps to keep you accountable & on track
- Life vision planning
-
FABULOUS shoes & more!
If you're ready to plan your way to success in 2015, order your Whose Shoes Transformational Calendar & Planner TODAY by clicking here.
What is one key thing you're doing to prepare for a successful 2015?
Recommended Posts
Discovering the 5 Secrets to the Fountain of Youth
01 Jan 2018 - blog, Faith, Health + Beauty, Life, Personal Growth
[…] Create an action plan. Yup, you need a plan. You’ve got to set up mini-goals to help you reach the bigger goal. Reaching each milestone will give you fuel to get to the next one. In fact, planning is so important that I wrote an entire post about it here. […]