Are you planning your success? Don’t think that it will just happen. You need to plan. That doesn’t mean plans go the way you think they should. As John Steinbeck said “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” But planning is still better than flying by the seat of your pants.
Plans definitely can go awry. No one can foresee every possibility or every little thing that could happen. Things like changes to the environment or someone else having a bad day, things beyond your ability to control can torpedo even the best; most thought out plans. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t plan. Planning has its benefits.
The first benefit is the opportunity to prepare. Think about this. How would you feel if you arrived at a meeting and the person presenting it hadn’t put any time or effort into preparing? Annoying, right? Preparing will help you learn, and learning leads to success.
The second benefit is gaining commitment. You do this by involving other people in your preparations. If they have a role in the planning, they buy into the project and your success. If you want to have an effective team working together to carry out a plan, then involve them in the planning and preparation.
The third benefit is that planning is a powerful way to visualize your success. In order to plan, you have to start with the end in sight. It is where you want to go, planning is the path. The more preparation and planning the more that vision becomes embedded in your brain, and therefore becomes the success you will gain.
So what about all those roadblocks and unforeseen circumstances? Well, if you are prepared, have others that buy in to your success, and have a solid vision of what you want, as a team you can work around those roadblocks. Your plan may go awry, but your success won’t.
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