Wanna learn planning from this war-winning general?

Hmm, let me guess…

You have heard a ton of advice on the importance of planning.

Yeah, they say that the soul of every project is its plan, and failing to plan is planning to fail.

While this precious hunk of wisdom gets rehashed and reverberated in different new ways, we rarely come across the truth that no plan is executed accurately as sketched out.

Guess why?

Because as we go forth on the planned course, new and unexpected things pop up, and consequently we’re compelled to change the scripted steps.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, the former general and president of the U.S. said, “No battle was ever won according to plan, but no battle was ever won without one.”

This happens because when an army goes forward in the battlefield, unexpected situations come to surface. The enemy reacts in a different way, or the weather changes, or the ammunition supply gets stuck somewhere etc.

If fresh conditions unfold but the general sticks with the same plan, he is going to lose.

Going accurately as per the plan is like telling your blindfolded friend in advance the exact steps and turns that he is going to take for reaching a certain location. Other pedestrians may cross his path, the distance of his steps may vary, he may take a detour for any other reason, and therefore from the very beginning the entire measures of the plan would go askew.

Now the obvious question comes up that if plans aren’t executed accurately, then why invest so much in making them in the first place?

We make plans because we want to get our priorities straight. Plans help us know the resources, risks and kind of people we would need in getting our object.

Plans change, but the object, the intent, the aim behind our efforts remains the same.

Say, somebody wants to make a successful blog with the intent of gaining a stream of loyal readers.

He plans that he’ll post regularly on his blog, but over the course he learns that guest posting would earn him a rich readership.

So instead of going as per the plan, he decides to make guest posts on popular blogs in an attempt to attract traffic to his blog.

Yes, his plan changes, but his intent remains the same: Earning a handsome number of readers for his blog.

So is it with other things as well.

If an army goes in the battle with the plan of launching an air attack but winds turn stormy, the commander might drop the original plan and order his infantry to go forth and surprise the enemy with heavy gunfire.

The plan changes, but the intent i.e. overpowering the enemy remains the same.

Take another situation.

Suppose you go with a handful of chocolates to ask the hand of your love. But right when you’re about to open your heart and show your love, you overhear her telling her friend that she hates chocolates and is fond of flowers.

Well, in such a circumstance you’ll jump back, probably eat all the chocolates, and bring a bunch of fresh flowers to propose to her.

The problem, however, is that some people make the mistake of going ahead with a plan, while some stick to their plans – even if the ground situation radically changes. Both the approaches, as you would know, are averse to success.

We have to be rigorous planners because plans clarify to us the resources we require or the risks we might encounter on the way of getting our object.

But being flexible in switching off to a different course as per the changing conditions too is of equal import.