Plan your day like a chess master

Chess is a board game not for those who lack an abundance of patience. It also involves a lot of strategizing before making one's next move in order to check mate one's opponent. If you've ever encountered any great chess player one piece of advise you'd surely get from them is learn to be patient and of course also be strategic or purposeful in making your moves.

A move made in haste without thinking it through thoroughly by accessing the possible consequences could result in losing one of your important pieces on the board. In such a situation panicking or becoming frustrated at the loss could ultimately result in losing the game. This is why it is never a good idea to dwell too much on one's mistakes but rather do a necessary analysis of the error made i.e. the possible reason(s) why the error was made and how it could have been possibly averted.

Once the analysis is done, quickly move on while being alert as to the indicators or signs of possibly making such mistakes in the future. One of the skills one has to develop to be good at chess is the ability to think or plan ahead, not just the next move but several moves ahead. Those who can master this skill have an edge over their opponent who lack the skill as they can anticipate and counter their moves on the board.

This skill is also important in our daily lives in order to get the best out of the day in terms of productivity. The ability to consistently plan one's daily schedule may seem like an easy task but without discipline there is a high chance of being distracted by challenges or unexpected occurrences which eventually result in one not being able to achieve the goals that the schedule was supposed to facilitate.

Planning steps ahead and sticking to the plan will save you a lot in terms of time, effort and finances. It makes you better equipped to manage challenges that may crop up on your way to achieving whatever objective or goal you've set for yourself. Failing to plan steps ahead can make the most basic taks become like a burden. I will illustrate some of the points raised in this paragraph with a few examples.

My father always says if you're planning for a journey, don't just start arranging the things you are planning to take along for that journey a few hours to when you're about to set off, rather start making preparations well ahead of time if possible days to the expected time for departure except of course it's an emergency. There's a higher tendency of leaving something important behind when one doesn't plan ahead for a trip.

If this happens it could even result in one not being able to make the trip as the time spent in searching for or locating such item usually results in loss of valuable time as the departure time fast approaches especially for things like flights or trains which have specific departure times. Also there's this anxiety that usually comes with searching for items when running late or short of time , you could miss such items even if they are 'hiding' in plain sight because of one's emotional state at the time.

Another example is if Mr.A has an appointment for say midday and the commute to the location for the appointment is supposed to take 30 minutes, without planning ahead Mr.A would likely begin his journey by 11.30 am but with proactive planning it would have been a better idea for Mr.A to leave much earlier say probably by 11 am just in case he encounters any unexpected challenges such as traffic on the way. He has a higher chance of getting to his appointment to time if had factored in the possibility of hiccups on the route while deciding on his departure time.

Before I give the last illustration, I would like to share a tweet I came across recently. It read (I have paraphrased some parts as I didn't commit it verbatim to memory)

"If you see something you like and you have the resources to buy it at that point in time, please buy it because it may not be available at same price if you choose to delay the purchase to another day".

This is one of the stark realities of the times we live in. There's virtually no place in the world that's not experiencing some sort of inflation. If I were to add an alternate end to the the tweet, I would said 'buy it else the item may not be available because someone else would have beat you to it". The last illustration will describe how planning ahead helps you save or manage your finances.

Mrs. A intends to go to the supermarket to purchase some none perishable items for her household. She has 14 USD which will get her two packs of diapers at 7 USD each. She has the option of buying one and waiting to buy another when it gets exhausted or buying 2 now while planning ahead (factoring the fact that with the trend in prices increasing rather than decreasing)that in future there's every likelihood that the 14 USD will not be sufficient to purchase 2 packs. Choosing the second option will save her the resources and even possibly the time spent to go out shopping again for a second pack of diapers.

Some free spirited individuals opine that one shouldn't bother with planning for the future but live in the moment . Call me an 'overthinker' but I rather opine that planning ahead helps to save one from a lot of inconveniences while optimally utilizing the resources at one's disposal. While not a chess player myself, one of the things I have come to appreciate about the game is the art of planning moves ahead and not just seeking momentary gratification of pleasure from one move only without considering the results or consequences that follow.