Why is it Smart to have a Plan?
Much like when your parents or teachers ask, “what does your life look like in 5, 10, 15 years from now” it is always a tough question to imagine. But after some years of life experience, you start to gather what you like about your life and what you don’t and how that will continue to look in the coming years.
For this blog post, I interviewed three people who have been successful in their lives based on what they wanted to achieve by creating plans.
INTERVIEW 1
Anonymous
Background - A mother, world traveler, volunteer, organizer
Q: Why is it smart to have a plan?
Having a plan keeps you sane and your mind clear on what’s going to take place.
There’s a higher possibility for negative surprises and I don’t like to get negative surprises.
It’s hard to control a plan if there is no plan.
If there isn’t a plan there are more opinions from outside and nothing gets accomplished. You are setting yourself up for failure if you don’t have a plan, and if you have a goal it most likely won’t get accomplished.
—————
INTERVIEW 2
Anonymous
Background - CEO, a father, world traveler, home improvement DIYer
Q: Why is it smart to have a plan?
Because you can change the plan.
Q: Then what’s the point of having a plan if you’re going to change it?
If you don’t have a plan, then you can’t change it.
“Most people who have a plan are moving, most people without a plan are always dreaming.”
Having a plan gives you visibility. You can now look at the plan and you can change it or communicate it - which is 99.9% of the deal.
Dream it. ⇢ Talk about it. ⇢ Plan it. ⇢ Execute it.
It gets you thinking every time you make decisions and gets you excited about making decisions. It takes time to learn, but it’s worth it.
When you have a plan to create a plan you can calmly target your goals and dreams.
Without a route or road to get there, it’s luck, that allows you to target, nothing more than a dream unless you know how to get there.
—————
INTERVIEW 3
Harish Parupalli
Background - Manager, world traveler, dreamer, gardener, builder
Q: Have you always been a proponent of having a plan?
Yes, I am a big proponent of having a plan, and I believe it is in our DNA. Think about how Mother Nature does planning during four seasons by allocating a specific season to sprout, grow, fruit and seed and do it all over again and again, effortlessly. In my experience, planning comes naturally to us. Executing it can sometimes present challenges.
Q: Has anything changed your perspective on planning?
My perspective on planning did not change. It’s the other way around, the lessons I learned from the failures in my life made me realize how poor my planning is and the importance to get better at it.
Q: How has planning helped you so far?
In life, planning helped me to achieve my dreams of buying a home/car/traveling.
It helped me meet my personal goals like following a healthy diet, physical exercises and attending meditation and yoga retreats.
At my work/business, creating a plan helped to bring financial stability, client satisfaction and quality of product/services.
Q: Why is it smart to have a plan?
“The effort to do planning is totally worth the time as it sets the vision/goal/intention for the project, preparatory steps, action items, dependencies, potential challenges and timelines.
It helps us stay focused on the path and less room for distractions.”
I sell visually designed plans for conscious homeowners, property owners who value the importance of life and care in the environment and in interior spaces, and long-time renters who are living in the now and are creating plans for how they want to continue living their lives.
Clients in the middle of the design process have said:
”I like that I can visualize all my thoughts now” and “I like that it feels like I am moving forward with my dreams.”
So, when you have a project that involves more people than just you, being able to communicate it with images, instructions and product names becomes much easier and clear, allowing no room for error.
And furthermore having a plan is smart because it plays a role like a manual, permits adaptability, encourages creativity, anticipates problems and change, creates a process and heightens innovativeness.