Do You Fly by the Seat of Your Pants… Or do you have a defined written plan of action?
“First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.”
~ Napoleon Hill
It’s been said that the absence of a well-laid plan often proves to have adverse effects. What do you think about that?
I’ve often thought that you need to have a plan; because planning is being organized, planning helps avoid disasters, and planning gives you direction.
Yet why is it that all too often things don’t go as planned?
“Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential.”
~ Winston Churchill
Knowing the importance of planning & goal setting is one thing.
Creating and following through is yet another…
If you know planning is important, and you take the time to create the plan, should you not then also follow the plan (or try to )?
I often wonder to myself – or perhaps it’s asking myself… Why don’t I take the time to plan out my life – my year – my month or my week – like I would plan out my shopping list to go to the grocery store (which I used to forget on the counter at home until I started using a grocery app on my phone)?
The Answer is complicated! Ya sure it is…
Truth be told – I have dreams and goals, and some of them are even written down, and I’ve even devised plans of action to achieve some of those goals, but…
Yes there is a but, and this may even sound a bit familiar to you too – life just gets busy, or we get caught up doing busy things. Which in reality can be summed up as allowing ourselves to get distracted – to throw caution to the wind and just wing it, or for lack of better words – it’s like flying by the seat of your pants with no set destination or path.
Do you make (or take) the time to review your goals and adjust your plans accordingly on a consistent basis? Even though I know I should – I’m the first to admit that I don’t (but that I need to).
Too often I hear myself saying to myself (in my head of course)…
- Yes I know I should get to goal setting and reviewing my goals
- It’s on my lists of To-Do’s… (yes I often have more than one list on the go – stickies on my desk – notes on my phone – tasks in my calendar – etc. Sound familiar; do you have several lists too?)
- Oh… I’ve got to finish this first and then I’ll review them (my goals – notes – etc.)
- Time just escaped me today so I’ll do it tomorrow… (really)
- Life’s busy (too busy to plan it out to live the lifestyle you want to live).
You get the point – they are all Excuses – and that my friend is a no way to live, nor is it leading by example – something has got to change!
“Plans are nothing; planning is everything.”
~ Dwight D. Eisenhower
We teach & tell our kids to have written defined goals & to make plans – to map out their lives regarding their school program choices, their activities and their careers, etc…
It would be great if they had a good example to follow right?
Here’s a side thought… what happens when they’ve done just that – wrote out their goals and devised a detailed plan of action for success to achieve those goals – and then out of nowhere they run into a big bump in the road (or a bump runs into them) that railroads them so to speak from keeping with the plan at hand?
Hmm… all too often we see that even the best laid plans are meant to be broken!
Care to share your thoughts?
There’s much to discuss on the topic of planning (or not planning) or flying by the seat of your pants…
… and at the moment it appears that I’ve managed to lose my train of thought (that I’ve been told comes with age… ugh) – so I’ll wrap up for now and just add a Big Thank You – Thanks for being here and reading my ramblings and thoughts (so to speak).
P.S… stay tuned – for when I go back and re-read this at a later date, (and recover my train of thought on this topic) there will be more to share and discuss.
Oh – and for the record – I too often fly by the seat of my pants… even when I think I’m organized! How is this possible – I fear it’s because I’m easily distracted and thus lose FOCUS!
