Tomorrow my youngest daughter, Sophie, is one year old.  She’ll have many more birthdays, but this one being her first is one of the most important!  I first found out that Sophie was going to be born around 19 months ago, one bright Thursday morning at 6:30am.  I was heading out of the door on my way to another busy day when Cassie (who had already been up for an hour trying to decide how to tell me) stopped me and said these fateful words….

“We need to talk”

My first thought was “Did I forget to put the bins out!” or “Did I promise to do the washing up last night” but the look on Cassie’s face told me it was something fundamentally more important than that….and then we sat down and Cassie told me she was pregnant.

I went through a range of emotions.  The initial emotion was fear.  Charlotte was 7 at the time, I had a business which although profitable was still in it’s relative infancy and I was pretty sure I’d forgotten all of the ‘early years’ parenting skills I once had!  As you can imagine it was a pretty scary time!

We also had a plan.  A plan to grow our business, a plan to save for our futures and a plan to be totally financially secure within an established timescale.  During these times of heightened emotion I’m not afraid to admit that I felt that the ‘plan’ was in total disarray.

The feeling of fear remained but was gradually replaced by excitement.  When Sophie was born the excitement was replaced by feelings of joy and love and whilst the past year has included periods of frustration and nervousness for both Cassie and I those initial positive emotions have remained and grown.

The time immediately after Sophie was born was a period of change.  Any of you know who have children getting used to having a baby in the house isn’t easy.  It’s fun…but it’s not easy!  However as we got back in a routine as a family our focus moved back to ‘the plan’.

Looking at ‘the plan’ in the cold light of day without that initial feeling of fear I realised something.  Our plan wasn’t ruined, it wasn’t in disarray,it just needed to change.

One thing in life is guaranteed.  Change happens.  I’ve come to believe that the most sensible thing to do is to understand this. I also believe that instead of trying to ignore, debate or fight these changes (because it impacts your plan)….it’s far better to just change your plan.

The danger is that due to the changes that occur in our lives we lose sight of the importance of having a plan, financial or otherwise.  So, my humble suggestion to you is this:-

If you know in your own mind that ‘your plan’ has fallen by the wayside.  Sit down with a blank A4 sheet of paper and a pen (or open up your word processor) and rewrite your plan.  If you’ve never had a plan….write one!  If you haven’t written a plan due to the fact that life will inevitably impact these goals…write one anyway and instead of worrying about changes you can’t impact…just change the plan!

These are my thoughts and are open to debate and discussion.  Do you plan?  If you do how important is your plan to you?  How do you react to changes which will impact your plan?  or don’t you believe in making plans?  and if not, why?  As ever I’m looking forward to hearing from you.