‘Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.’
– Abraham Lincoln.
We all know the fundamentals of maintaining a healthy lifestyle – eating a balanced diet rich in nutrients and vitamins like vegetables, fruits, and nuts while avoiding excessive oil, sugar, and fats. We understand the benefits of staying hydrated, exercising, going for regular walks and even performing yoga. However, what many fail to realise is that physical well being alone is not enough. Without discipline and a structured approach to life, these efforts lose much of their impact. The secret ingredient to a fulfilling and productive life lies in planning your day beforehand.
Have you ever heard of tools like daily planners, weekly planners, monthly planners, yearly planners, and to-do lists? Perhaps your response is, ‘No’, or ‘I’ve heard of them but never really used them,’ or maybe even, ‘What are you talking about?’ Regardless of your familiarity, these tools hold immense power in transforming your daily routines and overall quality of life.
Now, let me ask you this: Why do we often procrastinate and feel lethargic? Why do we experience exhaustion akin to labourers, even when all we’ve done is lounge on the couch scrolling through social media? Why do so many of us feel hopeless about our future, plagued by depression, anxiety, and confusion? Why are our routines so chaotic?
The answer lies in our lack of planning, discipline, and organisation. Without structure, creativity stagnates, productivity dwindles, and skills go underdeveloped.
A daily planner is a simple yet powerful tool – a notebook or digital app designed to map out your day before it begins. It helps you organise tasks, set priorities, and stay focused. By keeping track of responsibilities and goals, you can achieve a sense of balance in both your personal and professional life.
A weekly planner takes this a step further by offering a clear overview of your week. It allows you to prioritise activities, set deadlines, and plan a balance between work, personal growth, and leisure.
A monthly planner enables long-term planning. It helps track progress on ongoing projects, schedule significant events, and monitor commitments over an extended period.
Lastly, a yearly planner provides a comprehensive view of your year. This tool is ideal for setting ambitious goals, tracking major milestones, and organising significant projects.
Together, these tools act as a roadmap for a disciplined and organised life, as mentioned before. This quote ‘A goal without a plan is just a wish’ by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry can help you gauge how important planning is. Further quotes like ‘By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.’ by Benjamin Franklin, and ‘Plans are nothing; planning is everything’ by Dwight D. Eisenhower aid the latter claim.
Consider students who plan their day using a daily planner. The night before, they carefully outline their tasks and goals. The next morning, they wake up on time, ready to tackle the day with purpose. Each task is approached with responsibility, and not a single minute is wasted. This students’ discipline and clarity set them apart from the peers.
Now imagine extending this practice. A weekly planner can help someone commit to learning a new skill every week. A monthly planner can encourage them to explore new subjects. Over the course of a year, they could acquire 12 new skills and gain knowledge of 12 new subjects (apart from the subjects taught to them in schools). Just think about the level of competence, confidence, and brighter future that such a practice would foster!
We often complain about feeling lazy, demotivated, and unproductive. Many of us hold degrees yet lack real knowledge, skills, and competence. This unfortunate reality stems from a lack of planning. Instead of organising our lives, we waste time scrolling social media, binge-watching Netflix, or skipping classes. Unsurprisingly, this contributes to rising levels of depression and anxiety among today’s youth.
But it’s never too late to turn things around. By adopting the habit of planning — be it daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly — we can bring structure to our lives.
Introducing planners into one’s routine doesn’t just benefit someone personally; it has the potential to uplift entire communities. Imagine a generation raised with the discipline of planning their days and adhering to their goals. These individuals would grow into leaders, innovators, and change-makers. As Mahatma Gandhi said, ‘The future depends on what you do today.’
Remember that most of the successful people we see today or read about in history books, have achieved success not only through hard work and dedication but also through discipline and planning everything beforehand.
Therefore, the purpose of this entire discussion is to emphasise that we should lead our lives through proper planning. By planning we mean daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly plans. Along with this, whenever you are about to start a day, take thirty minutes beforehand to prepare a To-Do-List. Ideally, make it a habit that whenever you wake up in the morning, drink lukewarm water with honey (mix in it) on an empty stomach. Along with this, prepare your To-Do-List and then start your day. Trust me, these habits will transform you into a resounding personality.
The writer is our Editorial Assistant and journalist based in Peshawar.
