The Planning Puzzle

John Lennon once said, "Life is what happens while you are making other plans". I agree to this to an extent, because you can't control everything that happens. Although I also believe that by spending time making plans you can better the life that you live. Proverbs 21:5 says, "Careful planning puts you ahead in the long run; hurry and scurry puts you further behind". Here are few things that I try to put into practice when it comes to planning.

1. Look at the box
Where do you what to be in 5, 10 years or even in a week? It's kind of like when you are putting a puzzle together and you set the box top upright so that you can see what the puzzle is suppose to  look like when your all done. See the big picture. Write down what you want your life, your students, your finances, your family to look like when the puzzle is all put together.

2 Organize your puzzle pieces
Once you decide what your finished puzzle looks like it's time to put it together. Write out what you consider to be pieces to the puzzle. Pieces are simply tasks, things you need to "put together". What pieces do I need to put in place today in order to help create the big picture? Group them together and start putting them in place.

3. Remember it's a big puzzle
It's going to take some time to put everything together. It's important that we plan each day and eliminate the wrong pieces. If we do, "we'll be ahead in the long run".