Business Tip

"You Have to Plan for Success"

By Melissa Evans, Women Entrepreneur

Look at your plans for today. What have you set out to do? Each morning, we wake up with a mental to-do list. Making a beeline for the bathroom to brush your teeth is a plan. You plan to head down to the grocery store or to run some errands. You hit the office and you declare your plan to finish all of the work you have been putting off. You make dinner plans with your friends. You get home and you carve out a time to go for a jog, adding yet another plan to your list.

Now, which of these plans have you carried out, assuming you're reading this just before bedtime? Perhaps by the time you decided to go to the grocery store you were already running late for work. Maybe upon reaching the office you were called in for an emergency meeting by your advisor; perhaps an unforeseen hiccup needed your attention. The plan to make dinner plans is undermined as it seems that you are in for a long night at the job. The only good news is that you no longer can go for the jog you were dreading anyway.

We have enough trouble accomplishing easily achievable plans, let alone long-term business ones. As the saying goes, "Promises are meant to be broken; plans are made to be thwarted." This is precisely why many people don't believe in plans. Plans are just fleeting ideas. Why go through the hassle of making plans when, in spite of our best efforts, we just can't seem to stick to them?

So let's stop to consider the alternative for a moment: What if we didn't bother making plans anymore? What if we decided to wake up each morning and simply see what happened? What if there were no plans and nothing that we wanted or needed to do? What if even when we had a mandatory task to perform, we didn't feel compelled to act? It seems that such freedom would call for a celebration, wouldn't it? We could just lie in bed all day long and let our muscles atrophy. While to some this may sound like bliss, a bona fide entrepreneur will get bored by this routine in no time. Soon, your entrepreneurial spirit would have you itching for some action.

Though plans are often transient in nature, there is a need for them. They provide us with a structure and imbue us with a sense of purpose. Once you've made up your mind to achieve a certain goal, you cannot rest until you've achieved it. You feel uneasy when you know that you have yet to see a plan take flight. If you haven't kept to your plan of brushing your teeth before you step out of your house, you feel uncomfortable because you know your breath is going to stink. You know that morning breath is something that will not go down well with the people you're going to have a conversation with.

Plans clearly define for us the underlying reason why we do something. We brush our teeth so that we can have a set of sparkling teeth that completes our smile. We become an entrepreneur because we are sick of the 9-to-5 routine, and we wish to spend time working on activities that give us fulfillment.

The value of a plan is like that of a compass or a map for a trip into unchartered territory. It is like modern-day GPS. It points us in the right direction and inches us forward to our destination. Without plans, we dare not tread into unfamiliar realms. We do not have the courage to go on a holiday. We would be lost without plans.

Similarly, in life, we always need to know and to strategically plot our next move. It excites us and, at the same time, prepares us for what is to come. For undertakings that are grand in nature, such as opening a new business, we need to have plans in place to allow us to make rational decisions during the course of our business development.

Hardly anyone can say that her business success was entirely a stroke of luck. Even winning the lottery requires you to make a plan to head down to the lottery store. Success is always the result of a well-executed plan. Hence, you need to start planning for success. Ironically, planning for success means the need to factor in the possibility of failure. Which are the areas of your business that you deem weak? What are the loopholes that could potentially claim the life of a promising business endeavor? You need to draw up plans to prevent these ticking time bombs from exploding.

That said, you are not wrong in thinking that plans are ephemeral, because they are. When dealing with plans, we need to be flexible. Remember, plans are nothing more than a tool to get us to our destination. They keep us focused, yes, but ultimately it's sharp thinking that keeps us afloat while the rest of the ship is sinking.

"The plan's not working!"

"I know! But we need to stick to the plan! Stick to the plan!"

Stubbornly adhering to a plan when it's obvious that it's not working is just foolish. When stuck in this type of situation, it is time to make new plans. Add this bit of advice to your business toolkit: Always make new plans when the old ones fail.