E418: The Planning Mindset: How to Unlock Opportunities

Speaker 0 (0:02): When we decide something matters, when we make a plan, we usually find a way to make it happen. I want you to listen to those words and let those words sink deeply into your mind. When we decide that something matters, when we make a plan, we usually find a way to make it happen. I've been thinking about this idea that for me and for you, for a lot of people, I would imagine, we often think that we have money problems. But in reality, it's actually more planning problems.

Speaker 0 (0:40): I love to travel. This past week, I went to San Antonio, went to the SpaceCon convention, and got to meet some people from Marvel and some other actors and actresses. It's always a fun time for me. It's become a hobby for me. I started in 2022, went to the Dallas Fan Expo and first met Ming Na Nguyen, and that was really cool.

Speaker 0 (1:03): And then I went back in 2023, and then I went to San Antonio the last three years to meet a variety of people. As I think about traveling, as you think about life, we often say to ourselves, well, if we just had enough money or if we had more money. And it could be that some simply don't make enough or depending on what part of the world you're in, it could be a real challenge of just not having opportunities to make a kind of living that you're looking for. But for most people, it's typically not a money problem. It is a planning problem.

Speaker 0 (1:37): Sometimes we only think about today, and we're not thinking enough about tomorrow or next week or next month or next year. Now, you've been listening to this podcast, you know I talk a lot about worry. You know I've done a lot of reading about worry. I used to do a lot of gospel meetings talking about how to stop worrying and start living. That's actually the title from the book Dale Carnegie wrote a number, I guess, over a century ago now, How to Stop Worrying and How to Start Living.

Speaker 0 (2:05): But as I think more about challenges, it's not that we can't do certain things or can't travel to certain places, we just haven't done the proper planning. And if we're willing to go down this path to plan, I think we actually will have a lot more doors and roads of opportunity to really go after and to accomplish the things that we want. Take podcasting, for example. It's not a money problem at all because you can start a podcast for free on Spotify. You can start a podcast for free on a lot of different platforms.

Speaker 0 (2:46): But why don't a lot of people do it, even though they say, Hey, that's something I really want to do? Because it's a planning issue. If an event is coming up, take the one that we know the most where we often fail and say to ourselves, If only I had more money. Christmas. We know this is built in to our American society and around the world for the most part.

Speaker 0 (3:12): We know the exact day it's going to happen. We know the feelings that we're going to have in October, November, and December. We know the songs that are going to be played, the clothes that we probably want to wear, the aromas that we're going to be smelling during the holiday season, and the fact that we want to have gifts and gift cards and all these things set up. But how often have we gotten to December? And we're like, where's my money?

Speaker 0 (3:39): I need more money. It's never been a money problem. It's been a planning problem. Can you relate to this at all? What's going through your mind right now listening to this?

Speaker 0 (3:53): I can think all the way back when I was at the University of Illinois, taking a class, a physiology class, think, no, an anatomy class, I believe. It was a four or five hour class. You need to get an A or B or it could wreck your GPA. And we had four quizzes that we had to take each week, or should taken each week, but we had a month to take four quizzes. That would have been the ideal time frame.

Speaker 0 (4:20): But I often waited till the very last day of the month to take four quizzes in a row, And that hurt me. It was never a time issue, it was a planning issue. And what I want to share with you today, as we wrap this up, is that you probably have more money than you realize. You probably can do more than you actually think if you're willing to be a little bit more diligent with your planning. So if there's a SpaceCon, if there's a Disney trip, if there's an island trip, if there's an anniversary trip, well, all we have to do is put pencil to paper and start planning.

Speaker 0 (5:03): Now, we're willing to plan and willing to be patient, because it may not happen in a week, a month, a year, or three years, maybe even five years, but it can still happen if we're willing to be intentional with our time and our planning. So as you think about the next time you may complain about money or complain about not being able to do a particular activity, ask yourself, is it really a money problem? Or is it really a planning problem?