Some of the best advice that I have ever received was found in a short quote that I read some years ago which simply said, “Plan your work and work your plan.” Of course I did not realize at the time that in order to do this I had to have three qualities – patience, discipline, and structure. As I began to plan my work and work my plan in various areas of my life, I discovered that it was impossible to do without patience, discipline, and structure. I quickly discovered that I was going to need an incredible amount of patience. Why? Because nothing is accomplished overnight. It took a while to get myself into this dilemma and so I had to be comfortable with it possibly taking a while for me to get out. One thing I’ve discovered about mankind is that we do not like to wait. We generally want everything right here, right now. It is almost impossible to not ask “how long is the wait” at a restaurant, because there is something in each of us that recognizes the fact that waiting is not exactly one of our strong points. After accepting the fact that I needed to learn how to be patient, I discovered that I also needed to learn how to be disciplined. If I was truly going to plan my work and work my plan, I could not just do whatever I wanted to do. There were certain life rules that I needed to follow in order for me to plan an effective work and work an effective plan. I had to remain within certain limits, perimeters, and boundaries. Being disciplined also meant that I needed to stay focused. I could not allow minor struggles, loop holes, distractions, hurdles, or bumps in the road to cause me to lose my focus. This discovery quickly revealed the need to be structured. In being structured, I needed to remain organized and clear in what steps I was taking to accomplish the desired goal. I had to not only know where I was going but more importantly how I was going to get there. After discovering where I was going and how I was going to get there, structure taught me how to organize my plan and how to stay committed to my plan. Structure also taught me how to understand time and time management, which obviously took me back to patience.
So, as you plan your work and work your plan, do not forget to also work your patience, work your discipline, and work your structure. May God continue to bless each and every one of you as you ultimately plan His work and work His plan.
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