Do you find it hard to follow through with your intentions? Whether it’s sticking to a budget or signing up for your company retirement plan, it’s easy to get off track. Everyone is busy, and your good intentions may fall victim to life’s frenetic pace. The key to following through with all you want to accomplish is to have a plan.
Of course you need a plan to achieve the big goals in your life. But you also need a plan to just get through your day. Simply knowing what you will do will make your life easier.
Say that you intend to cut back on eating out so you will have some extra money to save for your emergency fund. After a long day at work, you’re tired and hungry. Instead of making something from the groceries you have at home, you head off to the local Thai restaurant. You weren’t planning to go out to dinner. But in the moment it just seemed easier.
Though you have groceries at home, if you don’t know specifically what you will do with them, you have to decide what to cook under stress. The decision making process takes energy you simply don’t have, so your good intentions go out the window.
Scientists have found that under stress an enzyme attacks a synaptic regulatory molecule in the brain. As a result, fewer neural connections are made, and we think less clearly. We are physically less able to make good decisions. Our judgment in these circumstances is literally impaired.
The key to sticking with your good intentions is to not have to make a decision when your synapses are under attack. Just knowing what you will do will help you follow through. If you know exactly what you will make for dinner, it’s easier to carry out that plan than it is to decide when you’re tired and hungry. The following example illustrates why a plan works.
| Plan | No Plan |
| Planned to make meat loaf, green beans and steamed potatoes for dinner | Check refrigerator for options |
| All ingredients on hand and defrosted | Nothing is thawed, so need to wait for meat to defrost in the microwave. Choose ground turkey |
| Mix ingredients for meat loaf and put in the oven | Out of eggs, so meat loaf is out – opt for turkey burgers |
| Steam green beans and potatoes in microwave | No buns. Burgers are out, maybe pasta |
| Serve dinner | What else do I have? |
It’s the figuring it out that drains you, not the doing. You could make that meat loaf in your sleep. But without a plan, it’s no wonder you would choose to go out for dinner.
Simply planning what you will do will help you carry out all of your good intentions. If you’ve been meaning to sign up for your retirement plan or even just call your mother, but you are always too busy, try putting it on your calendar on a specific time and day. It will substantially increase the likelihood that you will actually do it.
If you are committed to following through on your intentions, make a plan. If you know specifically what you will do and when you will do it, you are much more likely to follow through. Your plan eliminates the need to make a decision, which if made at the last moment, may not be a good one.
Which of your good intentions could use a plan? Leave me a comment.
Julie Grandstaff 