Advanced Planning
The executive of the future will be rated by his ability to anticipate his problems rather than to meet them as they come.
-Howard Coonly-
Advanced planning I like to think is the breath you take before going underneath the water. You take a few deep breaths preparing yourself for what is to come. And then you plunge into the water. .. What preparation you had before hand will show considerably on how long you can stay underneath.
Planning is also like the calmness before a huge storm coming your way. You have the time and ability while it is calm, to prepare yourself for what is to come establishing and insuring success.
In order to achieve excellence, it is important to plan. So what is excellence? Excellence is exceeding expectations and doing all in your power to go beyond. Planning is the first step to exceed expectations and is vital to do in order to achieve such a high recognition of one being excellent in the arena they spend their time.
A leader will research and research and research before taking action, because they do not, at anytime, leave anything to chance. Thane Yost said, “The will to win is worthless if you do not have the will to prepare.”
Leaders are aware and know how important and absolutely essential it is to analyze and inspect the situation and detail their strategy beforehand.
So questions are what matter most. Especially asking the right ones that will lead us to discovery. This is the key to staying on course. So why do people ignore the importance of advanced planning?? Ask yourself this question and find out whats making you successful or whats stopping you from reaching the next level in your life. Here is a few things that I have come up with when I asked myself the same question:
-I don’t have a focused plan of where I am going and how can I plan something in the future if its not clear!? Instead, theres been a blanket of darkness and confusion hanging over me.
-I don’t quite understand the power of asking myself questions to discover what I truly want in my life. Because of my lack of question-asking I wasn’t completely honest with myself of where I am at in my life. Its a true act of courage to be honest with yourself and try to make changes. I didn’t know or realize the importance of advanced planning. I have spent little time researching and creating strategy. Not only did I do this but I spent countless hours of work, time, energy, effort, and other resources going back and forth in my undertakings because the lack of proper planning. Never again! I will be an expert in advanced planning to exceed expectations and achieve excellence in my life and in all my doings. I will not follow the the ideology of ready, aim, fire! Because how can I hit my target if I have no clue what I’m aiming for? All successful people can focus their energy the proper way because they have this one thing in common–they know exactly what they want and know what direction they are going to get there. Plan to fail, fail to plan!
S9 what are the things that I should do?
Slow down to view the situation accurately, develop a strategic plan that I’m confident with because of extensive research, and go forward with passion, faith, and enthusiasm that everything will turn toward my benefit. Some of the aspects that I can work on in the planning process is to focus on the outcome, prioritize whats most important, write it down on the calendar, and delegate to maximize effectiveness.
Here are some great quotes about advanced planning:
Make your plans as fantastic as you like, because 25 years from now, they will seem mediocre. Make your plans ten times as great as you first planned, and 25 years from now you will wonder why you did not make them 50 times as great.
-Henry Curtis-
An intelligent plan is the first step to success. The man who plans, who knows where he is going, knows what progress he is making and has a pretty good where he will arrive. Planning is the open road to your destination. If you don’t know where you are going, how can you expect to get there?
-Basil S. Walsh-
Flow To Success 