Planning is crucial because it acts as a guide toward the goals and ambitions an individual has set for oneself. We have discussed the importance of planning on one of our previous posts, if you haven’t read it yet, do check it out before reading this article in order for you to get the full value.
As stated earlier, planning is super essential for one to reach one’s goals; however, even the most brilliant plan without proper follow-through in execution is like water off a duck’s back; absolutely useless! This is one of the foremost things I have personally struggled with in the past; it is a major pain to the lot who are after better things and greater successes.
THE FUTILITY OF A BRILLIANT PLAN WITH POOR EXECUTION
There once was a very highly regarded member of a certain community. He was praised for his high intelligence and sage-like wisdom. This man had the solution to all of the community’s problems it seemed. Even the most arrogant leaders of the community would go to consult with him about important matters under the cover of the night. His advice was always top-notch and it saved and served the community many a time. He was a decent guy, so he never turned anyone away.
After a lot of social pressure from the community, the man stood for public office and to no one’s surprise, he won pretty convincingly. It was an opportune time as well because the community had been struggling financially. It needed a leader who would lead it out of that economic peril it was enduring, and who better than the wisest man in the community?
Without hesitation, the man got to work drawing up a number of projects that would drum up the commercial success of the community. He came up with one brilliant idea after another, it was just a matter of picking which would bring in more revenue for they all were contenders for the best idea. After relaying his ideas to the community, a vote was taken as to which idea would be adopted and put into action. Before long, the results had come in and as expected, the margins were narrow as the ideas had all been extremely good. The community had settled on commercializing its farming products and expanding the horizons of its crop products in order to export and bring in good revenue.
The man did not waste any time once more and got to planning how they would go about executing this brilliant idea, however, planning for an entire community is no easy task and it took him a long while to finish. He once more appeared before the people to lay bare his plans and as always, the plans sounded brilliant. The community was to add three more cash crops to its usual seasonal crops. It would take out a loan from the government in order to finance the early stages of the venture, after which, it would become self-sustainable. The community would make available more land for farming and hire equipment from already established farming contractors across the country. The yields would be unprecedented the man said after delivering the plan. It was a foolproof plan with absolutely zero holes in it.
The farming season was nearing and would be upon them before long. So immediately after the availing of the plan, a scramble for resources necessary for the enactment of the plan started. Community leaders signed off on some land where a manufacturing factory used to stand due to the short-notice nature of the plan, they didn’t have time to go through the records to see which land belonged to whom and which piece of land was unoccupied, and so because the factory had been community property, it was the only readily available piece of land for immediate cultivation.
The central bank too ended up offering the community loans at higher interest rates as they were being pressured by the community to release the funds due to the urgency of the situation. Since it was already around farming season, most of the contractors had already hired out their heavy farming equipment and so the community had to settle for a company that wasn’t so popular among commercial farmers due to its exorbitant prices.
After struggling initially, it finally seemed as though everything was in place and the project got underway hastily as the farming season was well underway and being late would lead to catastrophic results. The clearing and ploughing of the fields started, however, after some time, the community noticed that the contractor was working at a slow pace with rather shoddy work left in his wake. By the time it was realised, at least two weeks had been shaved off the community’s expected schedule. The incompetent contractor’s contract was terminated and the community had to pay even higher fees to get another contractor to free up his schedule in order to work for them.
By the time all these issues were being resolved, it was late into the farming season and this didn’t bode well for the community as the crops they planted were seasonal crops. At the end of it all, when harvest time came around, the yields were very poor, barely enough to cover the government loans let alone sustain the community and it was once again back to the drawing board for the wise man as well as the community.
The goal was set, and the plan was also there a really good one I might add; the make-or-break moment was when it came to the implementation and execution of that plan. The timing was horrible and rushing the matter did not help either, it in fact led to further problems. Despite having a renowned wise man at the helm, and a wonderful road map in form of a brilliant plan, the community failed. The failure of the community could not be attributed to a lack of motivation nor a lack of a good plan for the set goal, but rather to the poor way in which it set out executing the plan.
Because the plan was limited in time, the community panicked and never took its time looking for alternative actions (as in the case of acquiring high-interest loans and hiring an incompetent contractor). there might have been other companies offering loans to farmers at better rates; and why was this particular contractor still free with his equipment when all others around him had been overbooked well into the farming season? Had alternatives been sought, the outcome would have been way different.
EXECUTION. HOW TO DO IT.
The allegory of the wise man with his community vying for the commercial success of their society could be applied at an individual level. As we have discussed in previous posts, clarity of goals is a must. once one knows where one is headed, it’s easier for one to make a plan in that direction. A good goal should be as clear and concise as possible; know exactly where you are headed and when you are to get there. The ‘how’ comes in the plan. Once you’ve made a satisfactory plan, it’s time to act on it.
Time the execution right. Stay level-headed and analyse your current situation intently and how it fits in the grand scheme of things. As a species, we have the fatal flaw of getting overly excited with novelty. When we set new goals, we get highly motivated and just cannot wait to get out there and crush them, this leads to us rushing things and missing crucial information along the way, a fact which ends up destroying our ambitions, self-esteem included. It is essential to stay cool and analyse everything, time everything to perfection before and during the execution of your plan.
Pivot quickly. With a cool head and good analysis now in your repertoire, you’ll find yourself spotting trouble from a mile away. It would only be a lunatic who sees a train coming at him full speed and then decides to skip rope on the tracks. Most problems along one’s path to success have some sort of indication before they finally hit. once one is able to identify these indicators, one can then find an alternative route to avoid the problem. Prevention has always been better than cure and will remain so till eternity.
Mind the gap. Self-awareness is one of the top components that propels one to better things. knowing your strengths is essential but knowing your shortcomings gives power. Know what you are capable of before executing your plans, and account for your weakness by either delegating those bits or grinding it out to become better and cover said weaknesses. This is very important.
Show up. The biggest mistake a person can make is relying on motivation in order to make progress. Motivation is an emotional response, a by-product of some event or the other, and with that being the case, it runs out fairly quickly and needs to be replenished by whichever event feeds it. This can be a tedious process. You can’t sit all day listening to motivational speakers when you don’t feel like studying as a student and expect to get straight A’s at the end of the year. you have to condition yourself to show up and make things work even when the emotional side of you doesn’t feel like it. The more you exercise discipline the more it works out for you in the execution of your plans.
As always it has been a pleasure writing this article for you. here’s a fun fact on the last point to hopefully get you going in your own endeavours, I was actually, for the longest portion of the day putting off writing this article, citing one excuse or the other, but in my heart of hearts, I knew that not showing up today would cost me so much more than that nap on the bed can ever offer. So, I got up and clicked my keyboard into oblivion, this piece being the result of it. It is never hard once you show up and get started. Don’t forget to share and subscribe. Comment your thoughts down below. Have a productive week.