Daily planning is ordering your life, in the spiritual realm. It is looking at the potential that exists and choosing a path.
You can order your life in other areas as well – the physical, the mental, the social.
But the act of setting things in order is always a spiritual act, and will always have spiritual consequences.
For example, I have a daily habit of doing some work each day to order my life physically. I don’t have any long term goal or big project that I’m tackling with this habit. I just want to spend some time each day setting things in order. Oftentimes, I use that time to clean my desk, or clear counters in the kitchen. Occasionally I’ll go through my clothes, moving out-of-season wear to storage and tossing out pieces I haven’t worn in months (and know I never will again). Sometimes I do yard work, or pick a shelf in the garage to organize.
But the effect of doing this, no matter how mundane the activity, is spiritual.
I feel calmer, lighter, more at ease.
Often, it energizes me, and I’m ready to tackle something larger once I’m done.
The same can happen when setting things in order mentally, whether you do it by brainstorming, journaling, making lists, synthesizing information, or breaking an idea down into its constituent parts.
For me, this is one of the big benefits of planning you day. It orders your thoughts and lays out a path forward. Whether you follow that path perfectly or not, it gives direction to your life.