Would I have always achieved things had I planned for them?

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I'm feeling as though at 18, I should have sat down and written a long-term plan of things I wanted to achieve in life even though at the time, I had no idea what exactly I wanted to achieve. I seem to think other people around me at the time were already learning to drive a car and knew what career they wanted. I didn't seem to bother at the time to ask my parents for driving lessons and only did them mainly because I allowed my dad to persuade me to do it even though at the time I had little interest in it. I seem to feel quite bad that I wasn't one of those kids who WANTED to drive and was eager to learn, pass and get on the road. I didn't pass and get on the road in my own car until I was 28. I was going on to college after sixth form to do art and design but I feel there few options for me to take and I was probably persuaded to do art and design at college because it was a subject that I got quite a high grade than other subjects I took for exams. I had no idea that by 26, I would be work in a job like the one I am doing now but I'm nearly always feeling as though I made decisions or choices I wasn't 100% wanting to take. I'm now not really into art and design and seem not to want to take a career in that field anymore.

I remember seeing a book by a guy who started his own social media business titled ''Happy Sexy Millionaire'' and he explains how at 18 when he had little direction on what to do, he planned for things like getting a flashy car, getting a girlfriend and becoming a millionaire and by the time he was 25, he was a multi-millionaire but he did explain that other things he may have planned hadn't been attained or achieved and realised that some of those things are not always attainable and don't always bring full contentment and satisfaction to your life. I seem to feel I share the same feeling as him but of course, I'm different as I am not a multi-millionaire, and I haven't got a flashy car and I am not in a relationship with anyone.

There is a saying "Failing to plan is planning to fail."

I wish I'd planned my life better, but on the understanding that the plan would change and evolve as I changed and evolved over time. What may seem important at 18 may seem trivial and unrewarding at 30. If you don't plan, you will just wander aimlessly through life until you become old and then wonder about life passing you by. I have few regrets now at 62, but wish I'd put a bit more effort into achieving the things I really wanted to do. But, you can't look back, only forward from this moment and decide what do I want to do now, at this very moment and set down plans for it, adding more and more details as you plan so you can clearly see every step of the way. Good luck.

Planning and executing said plan are two different things, and are vastly two different states.

It's as different as the theories from the practice.


One does fine in life to suck at planning while still be good at executing. At least to a passing degree, though not doing their "best".
They do, so to speak, drift, despite the ability to navigate.

Then there's the type who's great at planning while suck at executing. This is the case for any individual for so many reasons.
Sure they have a map or a plot. But they either suck at following directions, overestimated something, didn't know themselves and their limits or where they are... Or are trying to sail with an island and never had a boat to begin with.


I'm the fricking latter.
As a child I already tried to cultivate self discipline and independence. But something held me back and my parents and everyone were helpless and clueless.

Plan or no plan, I just grew up worse. To a point my parents couldn't control me. No one knows what to do. It's all about emotional regulation in my case.

Even until now I'm struggling with the very same nuisance to a point I question whether or not my intentions mattered anymore.
To a point that I don't have any future in myself, that I don't see myself in years except hoping to be free someday.

Now I suck at both. Because after years, all I see is this loop of a pattern for the last 7 years.
I want to go elsewhere but something is keeping me in circles.

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Plans can be good, but, sometimes plans change. Or you learn new things, or things about yourself, and everything changes so nothing goes according to plan anyways.

When graduating high school I felt immense pressure to have a plan. It was relieved when I was accepted into business school as I knew what I was going to do for the next couple years.. but then things got stressful again after that. It wouldn't be for another decade that I'd learn I was on the spectrum. While I am talented with some things in the business realm, when my symptoms act up they cause me problems and I'm better suited to doing the construction contracting work I'm doing now.

I definitely never planned on taking a course with a bunch of micro-credentials to get into film set construction, but, here I am now doing that thing and will pursue it because for a Job it pays very well w/o the added hassles of running your own contracting business.

Some people are lucky to KNOW as a teenager what their lifelong occupation is destined to be, but those people are very few and far between IMO. I think it's far better for most of us to maybe not have such concrete plans so we don't end up disappointing ourselves if they don't pan out. I think it's more important to have a strong work ethic and to just plan on always doing the best you can with the opportunities either presented to you or that you create. Without expectations, we can't really disappoint ourselves for not achieving somethingerother, but with a commitment to do the best we can, as long as we do that we can feel accomplished whether we're digging ditches, selling cars, or processing whatever widgets pay the bills.

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