(FEATURE) PLANNING ; An essential academic tool.

The military saying, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail,” is very true. Without a plan, managers are set up to encounter errors, waste, and delays. A plan, on the other hand, helps a manager organise resources and activities efficiently and effectively to achieve goals. Same thing applies to students. A well laid out plan is essential for school life, as it reduces the chances of failure in school.

Gives a student a sense of direction.Without plans and goals, students merely react to daily occurrences and situations without considering what will happen in the long run. For example, the solution that makes sense in the short term doesn’t always make sense in the long term. Plans avoid this drift situation and ensure that short‐range efforts will support and harmonise with future goals. A typical example would be getting a study plan even before exams starts, helps a student understand their course works more than cramming the entire course material shortly before exams.

Focuses attention on objectives and results. Plans keep the people who carry them out focused on the anticipated results. In addition, keeping sight of the goal also motivates you as a student.

Helps anticipate problems and cope with change. When students plan, it can help them forecast future problems and make any necessary changes up front to avoid them. Of course, nothing comes as a surprise to such students after effective planning.

Decisions are future‐oriented.

Provides guidelines for decision making. Decisions are future‐oriented. A student who draws out a good plan is very likely to make to future oriented decisions as they are already used to envisaging the likely future.

Planning isn’t as complicated as you think, with a pen, note pad and a clear mind, you can draw out your academic aspirations, with ways on how to achieve these aspirations. Draw a plan today