How Planning Ahead Can Build Mental Strength

Whenever I’m journaling I want to create the best possible daily outcomes with the ideas that flow through my writing. By planning ahead it allows my mind to prepare emotionally and physically for what’s needed.

I call it the pre-emptive strike effect.

I first learned the skill when I did face to face sales straight out of university. It has helped me to strengthen my mind for possibilities that could try to derail my day.

The mindset behind it is to attack the negative before it attacks you. I use it with my parenting before we head out the door with their behaviour and I use it while journalling each evening of all the pitfalls I can think of that will set me back.

I want to share this skill with you so you can become more prepared for your day. Life becomes much smoother because of it.

How To Use A Pre-Emptive Strike

To be able to pre-emptive strike effectively someone needs to have had a scenario that didn’t go as planned. Then by learning from the lesson you can avoid the same outcome next time.

So you either have to go through the experience yourself or you can utilise mentors and the wisdom of others to plan ahead.

The easy way is definitely listening to people who have already been through the struggle. The hard way of course is through trial and error. This is my 20s in a nutshell. I was once called a bull through a china shop for the will to learn it the hard way.

To anyone reading don’t try and re-invent the wheel. Learn from others mistakes so you don’t have to. That’s the smart way of moving forward in life.

Planning Ahead Is Never Perfect

No matter how great you are at planning for the future. It will never work out exactly how you imagined it. There are too many variables to consider plus you are not an all-knowing being.

Preparing my mind to know this is important. It has allowed my mind to understand that there will be curveballs in life.

I’m now more open to change and get excited when it comes my way. This is important because it creates an opportunity to learn something new and show how I can deal with the situation.

Too many people at the first sign of difficulty crumble. It’s not because they can’t preserver through adversity. It’s because they haven’t prepared their mind to deal with and overcome the obstacle in front of them.

That’s why preparing your mind in advance Is important.

The best people at dealing with unplanned events will have a system set up within the mind that allows them to do this naturally and seek adversity with a cool mind. For me, the best way to teach anyone is through journaling.

Below is how I effectively plan my days, weeks and months ahead.

Three Ways To Plan Effectivily

Write anything. First, you have to let the mind flow onto the paper with all your ideas and possibilities. Even write down all your fears as this is the great obstacle from executing a plan from its beginning. When your fears are on paper you are prepared for them and now you can plan how to deal with fear. Anything can be written down that helps you plan ahead for the next day, week or month. As well as a project you’re working on or planning how to expand your business. Whatever it is just write anything that comes to mind until the mind is clear.

Master Sculpture. Next, It is time to become a master sculpture and create a plan of execution. For example, if you’re planning for your week you can create a schedule, a checklist and whatever is needed. With all your knowledge at your disposal, you should be able to create an effective plan that can help you win. It doesn’t matter if the plan is not 100% effective but planning helps to create between 60% to 80% of what’s needed to execute your vision. Making it easier to make adjustments on the fly later.

Don’t forget you. Most importantly you will use the pre-emptive technique to prepare your mind for setbacks, tiredness, procrastination, mistakes and failures and anything you know about yourself that will harm your progress. I have planned from a list of the many emotions that will affect my performance from fear to overconfidence. By writing down these emotions I was able to focus on when fear starts to appear. I then prepare my mind when fear pops up it’s a sign that I’m on the right track. When I feel overconfident I prepare my mind to know a mistake is looming. By preparing and analysing myself it allowed me to control my emotions more effectively.

Focusing On You Builds Mental Strength

The true control we have is not the events of the external but of the internal. The person we know best of all is ourselves. That’s why planning ahead of our habits and emotions will help create a new pathway in our minds to overcome our own shortcomings.

When I was coaching people early on I was very direct in my message. I learned that one approach does not fit all and a coach should be able to communicate effectively with many different hats.

When I prepared my mind to be conscious of my approach to different people it allowed my coaching to become more effective and listened to.

By planning ahead to focus on what’s in your control which is you. Helps you improve and overcome obstacles.

When Planning Ahead

Here are the simple tips to help you plan ahead more effectively.

• Clear your mind on paper of all possibilities
• Become a sculpture and create your plan
• Expect it to fail and prepare the mind for that
• Focus on you as you are the key to it all
• Enjoy the ride

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