A Life Plan Reduces Stress and Anxiety

One thing that is exciting about crafting a life plan for yourself is the role that it plays in reducing stress and anxiety and increasing the level of success you can achieve in all areas of your life, physical, cognitive, and social-emotional.

If you can evaluate where you are compared to where you want to be, identify steps, and assemble a plan that is realistic in reaching the goals you’ve set for your life, you literally cannot lose. Even if you slightly miss the mark or change your mind as you go – you will still have succeeded.

Self Awareness

Being self-aware allows you to look to yourself, the only person you have any control over, for the changes that are needed to reach the success you desire. For example, if you realise that you are prickly around feedback  do you say, “Don’t critique me because I can’t handle it!” Or do you instead teach yourself with the help of books, courses, classes, counsellors or coaches,  to learn to handle feedback better? Being able to evaluate where you are and make a choice to improve is part of having a growth mindset, rather than having a fixed mindset.

 

You’ll Develop a Better Sense of Direction

When you really know who you are, what you want, and how to get what you really want, you’re going to have a much chance of success than the average person. Knowing what you want to get out of life is an important aspect of what helps you set your own course. You also learn not to overwhelm yourself trying to do too much at once because you know that when you set your goals realistically you have a much better chance of achieving them.

 

You’ll Become More Focused and Effective

One of the things that you want most from personal development, if you are to become more focused and more effective, is clarity. Understanding your individual needs, your quality world pictures and your perceptions is vital if you are to develop true clarity. Once you have it you can become more and more effective at realising each success, and in taking the correct steps to get you where you want to go. Roadblocks, obstacles, and threats lose their power over you because you know exactly where you are going and you can change course slightly or pivot when necessary.

You’ll be much more Motivated

Motivation can be hard to sustain, but this is generally a problem when you don’t have a clear enough picture of how your goals are going to meet your needs. When you plan your goals with your needs squarely at the forefront of your mind, your successes will be truly motivational.

• Think about how motivated you would feel to continue working on challenging family relationships if you were able to successfully reconnect with an estranged family member.
• Earning money from your first sale in your online business would give you a real boost if your business is linked to meeting your needs. Maybe you are doing it for greater freedom, time with your family, or security. As long as you can understand the link to your needs and where it fits into your plan it will be motivating. If not you could get bound up in thinking it’s not enough, it’s too hard, it’s too slow, and give up too soon.

Creating positive thoughts for yourself whenever an action you took moved you positively towards your goals is incredibly motivating. It’s important however to also remember not to beat yourself up when your actions don’t always go according to plan, or something outside of your control throws up a challenge. Again this is where cultivating a growth mindset is invaluable.

You’ll Become More Resilient

As you begin you really know yourself and where you’re going, something happens along the way. You’ll not only feel good about the things you’re doing, you’ll become a much stronger person. One of the first things you may notice is that you can bounce back faster from setbacks and roadblocks.

When you know how to plan using informed, actionable steps, to get to where you want to go, there seems to be fewer problems, issues, and roadblocks, simply because you know you’re capable and know what to do. You will have tools, crafted from the development of your personal plan, to help you overcome issues that would ordinarily delay your progress. You can’t control anything outside of yourself; however, you will have more control of your habitual responses and learned behaviours.

You’ll be in charge of your Life

One of the things that will gradually become apparent as you work through your personal development plan, is that you have full control over your own actions. The way you feel is a direct result of your behaviour (including your thoughts), and so when you act in accordance with a plan, that has been developed around your needs you will begin to take charge of your life at a very deep level.

The role personal development plays in your level of success in all areas of your life is clear. People who spend time developing themselves tend to experience life more fully, make more money, have better and more fulfilling relationships, and are more satisfied with their place in the world. The reason is that you cannot get to where you want to go without taking small daily actions to get there. Your personal development plan will be the map that guides you to where you want to go.

Resources to Help

Developing a Life Plan reduces stress and anxiety and we have a full course on that just click here to check it out.

 

 

If you have any questions or comments I’d love to hear them in the comments section below.

Each great day is a step towards a great life.

Bye for now 🙂

Deb