Skip to main content

The Best Laid Plans

By June 30, 2014February 14th, 2019Articles, leadership, Leadership

Busy-hiring-manager“The difference in winning and losing is most often…..
not quitting.”
Walt Disney

So I had the best laid plans today. I’d done my planning and had my to do list. I’d executed all the things a good leader should!

Then Monday happened.

Now, at 6pm on Monday as I write this, writing my blog post will be the one and only thing I have ticked off that long list! What on earth have I done for the last 9 hours?? It felt like a lot when I was bouncing around answering the phone, emailing people information as requested, chatting about speaking at a women’s event and the rest of the conversations. But now as darkness falls, I feel as though the rest of my week will be just that – dark!

Does that ever happen to you? Frustrating huh?

So I have a choice, I can just throw my hands (I wish I could throw all the paper and it landed in a neat pile) in the air and give up;

Or

I can decide to work longer hours, do what I need to do today and I mean really need to do today;

OR

I can work out another slightly smarter plan for the week and re-prioritise.

Option 1 sounds perfect to me right about now but I know that will get me nowhere other than experiencing a moment of satisfaction and freedom. So I am choosing option 2 & 3 because I can today. I don’t have any functions tonight. Other than a date with House Rules at 7.30pm….I hope!

So it’s with a steely determination I will spend the time to re-work my plan, prioritise and decide to tick off 3 things I really need to do today. The rest will wait. The world won’t end and clients’ will not be affected.

Tomorrow is another day. And it won’t be like today. It will be different which is great because I have a different approach- in both plan and mindset.

As business leaders we can only control our environment to a point. Most of us deal with people and we have teams that demand our time. Sometimes the best laid plans will be blown out of the water. And that is ok sometimes.

As Brian Tracey says, if you have a plan that you realise 80% of the time, you’ll be much more productive than not having a plan at all. This is a philosophy I truly believe in. I’ve tried the unplanned version – it sucks!

So if you had a day like I did on Monday, it’s ok. It happens! The true test is what you do the following day, and the day after. Resilience is key for business success and to future proof your business or career.