Is Proper Planning Overrated?

Few subjects have attracted as much interest and discussion as the subject of planning. Schools, governments, authors, life coaches, spiritual leaders and so many more have made the issue of planning a hot topic over the years.

The attention given to this subject is only a result of how essential it has proven to be in the life of individuals, institutions and even governments.

History has proven that lives are changed by proper planning, nations are transformed by proper planning, wars are won by proper planning and even the greatest success in the history of mankind like the team at NASA who put the first man on the moon spent a minimum of 2 years planning for an event that took only a few hours to accomplish.

It is as Abraham Lincoln said, “If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it.”

Planning, as defined by the free dictionary, is an orderly or step-by-step conception or proposal for accomplishing an objective.

I personally love the definition given by Alan Lakein where he said; Planning is bringing the FUTURE into the PRESENT so that you can do something about it NOW.

So, planning is not overrated. When it comes to the future, I like to quote John Maxwell’s saying on leadership, “Everything in your future rises and falls on planning.”

It is obvious that one of the most common mistakes when it comes to the accomplishment of future goals like starting your own business, sending your children to college, preparing for your retirement, paying for a new house, etc, is that people do not plan for it. There is the tendency to take the same route as Alice in the story from “Alice in Wonderland,” in which the cat tells Alice that surely she will get somewhere as long as she walks long enough. It may not be exactly where you wanted to get to, but you certainly get somewhere.”