Make no little plans. There's nothing in little plans to stir men's blood. Once a big idea is recorded, it can never die. - Daniel Burnham

Planning is part of preparations for your business success. It is the first test of commitment to your dreams.

A plan is a mental outline, on paper (or in some other permanent storage medium, including the computer), of the task to be accomplished, the result desired, the inputs required, and making allowances for deviations over a given time frame.

Some people feel that planning is a waste of time and rush headlong into the job to be done. This approach is faulty. Planning assists you to discover mistakes on paper (in the prototype). These mistakes could be expensive in the playing field.

The planning process offers you an opportunity to think through the whole scheme or programme from beginning to end. The plan acts as a guide when you're implementing the scheme. (You reserve the right to alter any part of it.) It is true that in emergencies you could plan as you go, but this should be the exception rather than the rule.

Everything needs planning. A military commander will plan for his campaigns. This involves troops, materials and supplies, timing, movements, contingencies, strategies for different scenarios, including retreat.

A homemaker will plan for what she requires to run her home in a week or month. She has to determine how and when they are to be used, and match it with the funds available to her. If she uses the resources meant for one week in a day, she'll put her family's welfare at risk.

An architect designs a building and gets inputs from a quantity surveyor on the materials to be employed. No engineer will start building a machine or building without proper plans.

A businessman or corporate executive about to embark on a business trip out of his station has to park his luggage. He will include the papers or files he will need, tooth brush, shaving stick, aftershave, clothes, etc. He will book a hotel, purchase air ticket, and arrange how to move to and from the airport.

An entrepreneur desirous of getting other people to support his business scheme has to do a business plan. Even if you have all the resources needed to start a business you still require a business plan. Why? It will assist you to get your own support. It should be taken for granted that as an established or budding entrepreneur, that you know the value and place of a business plan.

It's not enough to have a plan in your head, it is mightily important that you put it in writing. You should not stop there, like some people who keep the plan to themselves. Your next action should be to sell it to all those who need to be part of it in order for it to be a super success. Have you done this? Are you doing this with your current project?

A young woman that is eager to get married should first sit down and identify the qualities she desires in her ideal mate. Then she has to note down her own good points and define changes she has to make in her behaviour and attitude in order to attract the worthy prince.

There are six areas that pertain to our life: spiritual and giving; physical and health; career; financial; family; relationships and social; and personal. Our planning should cover all these aspects of our life.

You who desire business success should sit down and list the ideas you have, and how you intend to make money serving others in the way they want to be served. List your assets and your liabilities. If you decide to play the business game, talk to a business coach or consultant. You can of course choose to be your own business advisor. In which case you have to figure out the risks you are willing to take relative to what you are putting in. Be aware of the channels available for you and choose the ones that most align with your philosophy and peculiar circumstances.

Each day make a "To Enjoy List" comprising of all the activities you'll love to do that day. Break it into "the critically important" and "the usual." Concentrate your attention on doing those activities in the critically important side of the paper. Whenever you're in between activities or that you're tired or bored, execute one of the items on the "usual" side of the paper.

The elements of a plan are: results desired; people and resources required; how the resources will be employed; time frame; contingencies; scenario building; and environmental factors.

The plan might not be followed rigidly but it's a useful guide. It prepares you for what to expect. Plan your day. Plan your week. Plan your month. Plan your year. Plan your life. Plan to succeed. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.

If you can't spare the time to plan for your success, what's the guarantee that you can find the time to be devoted to it?