79. Always think and plan ahead.

One of my small exasperations occurs when I am in the checkout line in a store. The person ahead of me places their items on the belt, watches the clerk price them and then declares the cost. The customer is overcome by surprise that they are going to have to pay for their purchases and then has to go searching through their purse or pockets, for their wallet or change purse, to withdraw their payment. Did they not think or realize that they should be prepared to pay for their items or did they think it was 100% Off Tuesday? People who do not think ahead, even for a small matter, leave me baffled!

Thinking and planning ahead just makes so much sense to me. When I receive a bill to pay or a check to cash I always place it where I will remember it and can deal with it when I need to. Tossing it on a desk or in a pile of other materials is not thinking ahead. Letting your gas gauge in your car get so low that you can hear the engine gasping for a drink is not good practise or planning. Where would half of today’s drivers be if the little orange gas pump that lights up on our dash board was not present? Car manufacturer’s were thinking ahead for us, as they knew Mr. Average Driver probably wouldn’t be!

The government has started to quit thinking ahead for us now. They have decided that if you were qualified to drive a car you should be able to remember when you needed to renew your registration and your driver’s license. Thus, they are no longer mailing out reminders to make sure we don’t miss expiry dates. In addition to attempting to make us a little more responsible for simple things, it will also generate considerable income from those people who will be fined for missing the deadlines that they did not plan ahead for.

There are a litany of regular examples of poor planning. Did you renew your favourite magazine subscription before or after your last issue arrived? Did you make a shopping list or just curse the gods when you returned home minus two important items? Do the people who shop madly on Christmas Eve day for gifts not know that December 25 is ALWAYS Christmas Day? A little thinking and planning ahead can make life a whole lot less stressful!