Personal strategic planning is far more than opening up a calendar and remembering you have a meeting or deadline tomorrow. Planning is often discussed in corporate contexts for long-term projects and benefits, but here are five incentives for incorporating planning into your personal life from today.

you'll be compelled to achieve more...more will seem possible

• Control. Scheduling important dates and tasks will give you an immediate sense of control as you gain a sense of direction and purpose. Seeing when things are going to happen and how you'll tackle them will reduce feelings of chaos and levels of stress.


• Tangible timeline. By prioritizing and scheduling tasks, projects and goals, you'll see how things fit together and become better at organizing your time and life in general.


• Do more of what you love. Scheduling what needs to be done will help you realize opportunities to do more of what you'd rather be doing. With time, you'll see more progress in must-do areas making you feel less guilt with pleasures that you shouldn't be feeling guilty about in the first place.


• Realism. Scheduling tasks, projects and goals requires detailed analyses and breakdowns of larger tasks. Suddenly huge goals that were but a dream may now be just 50 steps away and within reach.


• Motivation. As you work through your to do list or planner full of scheduled tasks and goals, you can quickly look back at everything you've accomplished so far. With each task or milestone checked off you'll be compelled to achieve more and more will seem possible.