Judy's Solutions

LACK OF PLANNING FOR WHAT’S NEXT

It took me a long time to figure out why people die in their businesses or why they fail in life when they seemed to be at the pinnacle of success in their professions. In almost every instance, parking was the reason; they did not plan for what to do next once success was attained.

Unfortunately, people often spend too much time and energy building their future and then forget how to build a good life in the present or how to maintain good relationships. In so doing, they often take people for granted and do not see the blessings in their lives. This happen when people see success as a destination instead of a wonderful journey through life.

The problem with people treating success as a destination is that, once they’ve arrived, they don’t think about what to do next. They often forget to set additional goals after reaching their specified level. Life has a tendency to become routine, mundane, dull, and unexciting when people no longer dream or set goals. Indeed, their lives seem empty when they have not planned for “What’s next.”

A woman I once knew named Anne found herself in this situation. She described herself as feeling depressed. She asked herself, “Why do I feel this way? All I want to do is cry. I should be happy. I have everything I could ever want and life is so good to me.”

Anne’s best friend suggested that perhaps what she was experiencing was just a let-down after coming off the high she had been on during that period of time. She had been successful in her business and also had just married a wonderful man. It had been such a whirlwind leading up to the wedding that, when it was all over, she did not know what to do next. In other words, because she had been busily working hard for the event of a lifetime (which she had been praying for a long time), a big hole was left inside of her when it was all over. The problem was she had nothing in place to substitute the energy high she had been on for the past several months.

My point is that you should not only plan to succeed, but you should also plan for what happens after you reach the level of success for which you had planned. You should make plans for what comes next by setting new goals. Think about the following questions:

What motivates you to move ahead in life and to reach for another goal?

What worthy project would you like to be involved with next?

What will you do with your time and energy once you have gotten to where you want to be?

How do you see yourself in the future and decide what you want to see there?

Who will be there with you, who will not be there, and what will you be doing or not doing?

What kind of person will you be, spoiled or humbled?

How will you spend your time, energy, and money?

Will you be wasteful with those assets or continue to use them wisely and charitably?

How much time or money will you be giving to charity, and to what organizations?

These are questions you need to answer so that you have a realistic plan in place to keep you motivated and growing each time you reach a new goal. Also, you need to be adding new lifeblood to everything you set out to accomplish. Old blood gets sluggish and thick when there’s nothing to give it boost once in a while. This means you need to bring new people and new ideas into your circle on a regular basis.

I welcome comments about this subject. Do you believe that planning for what’s next and following through with what you had planned is important?

I suggest you refer to a blog I found interesting. I do not know the author but the material is interesting. Use this link.