Career and Life Planning

This photo is taken last year during our 6 day trip to Hong Kong and Macau. This is our first time to travel without an agency fixing our hotel accommodation, itinerary and air fare. A lot of friends are advising us to look for one so that we will not experience the hassle. But still, we insisted to do a DIY (Do It Yourself) tour to maximize our time with a particular place that we want. Compared with the packages that I saw, the itinerary for one day is loaded with 4 to 5 destinations which give you a very limited time to enjoy the place.

Prior to our tour, my sister booked our air fare at Cebu Pacific and I booked for our hotel accommodation. My siblings and I conducted a research about the tourist spots of Hong Kong and Macau. After listing them, we made our own itinerary. We searched for their transportation system and how we can get from one place to another.

I must say that we really enjoyed our tour. We didn't get lost because we planned our itinerary plus the transportation system of Hong Kong is good. Reminiscing this, I started to think how planning can really help us not just for our tours but in our daily life.

            Setting our goals helps us to know what we want to achieve in our life. Planning for it will help us determine the steps that we should take. Through planning we can:

     1. Avoid wasting effort.

     The priorities that we set will help us to find directions and can avoid us from distractions. That is why, it is important for us to know our hierarchy of priorities so that we can avoid spending our life and energy chasing on temporary things while neglecting the things which matters most to us. 

  

    2. To take into account all factors, and focus on the critical ones.

    Our goals in life can determine the steps that we should take. Knowing the steps that we have to take, helps us to know the implications of what we want to do. And by knowing its implications, then we can also prepare ourselves for such events and can immediately do something about it. 

   3. Gather the resources needed.

   Our goals is always intertwined with resources. Resources plays a vital role in fulfilling our goals. That's why it is important to know how much or more do we need and what do we need. By doing so, we can also tell if our goals is possible now or we have to wait for the right time until our resources are complete. 

  4. Carry out the task in the most efficient way.

     Efficient means achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense. Thus, through planning we can evaluate the best alternative possible so that we could conserve our limited resources,time and energy. 

  Always let every decision and action in your life be influenced by the goal that you have. Planning is not to say that we will not fail. You and I will fail many times. That's why it is important that our goals are aligned with God's purpose in your life. But we can rest assured that God is in control and He can re-route us to what and where He wants us to be. It is by His great love for us that will enable us to rise again. I pray by God's grace, we will learn not to depend on our own strength but to our Heavenly Father who has always a better plan for us. 

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." -Jeremiah 29:11