Fail to Plan - Plan to Fail
Hindsight is a wonderful thing isn't it? We learn a lot with the benefit of hindsight. We learn from our successes and our mistakes. We are able to add context to things and hopefully improve the way we live and work as a result. Whilst hindsight is a great thing, it's not beneficial without its partner - foresight. Foresight adds context before the event.
It enables us to think through our actions more effectively so that we don't have to waste too much time fixing things, or so that we don't get ourselves into avoidable troubles. If we can develop foresight, the ability to see ahead of where we are now, our aim will be far more accurate, far more effective and we will have far more space in our lives to do what we want to do as a result.
Do you find yourself living in a world where everything shouts NOW? Everything is urgent and important? Everything is last minute? If that's you, you need to start to develop foresight.
Being reactive gets a bad press. The experts tell us that we have to be proactive not reactive. However, this is not quite true. The truth is that we have to be proactive and reactive. Some situations need us to be reactive. To assume that we only need to be proactive is to assume that the world around us is predictable when we all know it is far more dynamic and chaotic than that.
The move towards being proactive is simply a move away from an excessively reactive life. Similarly, hindsight will always be very beneficial, but not on its own in the absence of foresight.
Someone once coined the phrase 'If you fail to plan, you plan to fail'. In other words if you don't create a healthy balance between 'reactive' and 'proactive' or between 'hindsight' and 'foresight' you will ultimately be unsuccessful in what you are trying to accomplish. To equate planning with putting your feet up is wrong. Planning is just as active as implementing, providing it is followed up with action.
'But surely, planning slows us down?' you may say. No, too much planning slows us down. Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. The right amount of planning will lead to greater success than we could think.
Why not take some time out to plan and think about your next move? Think through your strategies, ask yourself 'is this the best line of action?' 'what are the implications?' 'how will I know if it's working?' If you challenge your thinking then others may be saved from having to challenge your actions (your family, clients, leaders). At the end of the day, no plan is perfect, but having no plan is potentially catastrophic.
Get others involved in your plans, it makes it all the more interesting and you never know, they might have the answer you are looking for!