"Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans."
Planning as a means of making a commitment, especially for those with ADD, is key to execution and completion.
Yet, we all know people who say:
If this is you, ask yourself the following questions:
- How is that working for me?
- What is the cost in terms of stress?
- Am I able to make and follow through on commitments that are important to me, that are in sync with my values?
- Am I reaching my goals?
I think you get the idea. So, if not planning is not really working for you, please read on...
The good new is that there is not one right way to plan, other than the way that works for you! However, there is one critical component which is determining what is important to you. If being healthy, for example, is important to you, first decide what it means to be healthy. If exercising is part of being healthy for you, then you need to plan to do this. If you are not exercising when you say it is important to you,
- it is important, but you have other priorities right now. That is ok.
- you are not doing the planning to incorporate these activities into your life.
- it is not really important to you.
Planning allows us to focus our time and energy on matters that are, as Steven Covey notes, important and not urgent. Lack of planning can force us to spend more time doing last minute tasks that are important and urgent. Of course, sometimes we can't avoid these because we can not plan for everything.
However, we can certainly avoid doing what is urgent and not important, as welll as what is not urgent and not important, by being more proactive. Yes, that means planning...
What is really important to you that you are not doing? Are you ready to make a commitment and take the first step today? You don't have to start by committing to a marathon. Just the first step...
Cummins Coaching and Training
