This is one of my favorite quotes on Planning (the other being – ‘In preparing for battle, I have found that plans are useless, but planning indispensable.’ by Eisenhower).
Long before I had a plan for Financial Independence (FI) / Early Retirement, I had a wish to retire early. I spend many years doing nothing with that wish. As a result, I had nothing to show for it.
Thankfully, at one point, I decided to get started on my FI journey and put together a simple plan for that. The plan did change a lot over the years of my FI journey. However, having a plan in the first place was the impetus I needed to start my FI journey.
Lastly, planning is especially important because we are so bad at it.
A goal without a plan is just a wish.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry