I was leading a “Too Busy To Plan” program recently and I asked the group “What’s something that you’ve learned the hard way about planning?”
Here are some of their responses:
- It’s never over
- Life changes in an instant
- If you embrace too much you accomplish little
- You may need to change direction quickly
- Fail fast, learn fast
- There’s always someone worse off than me
- Shortcuts lead to short term results
- What are you measuring?
- Say No to the good so you can say yes to the best
“It’s never over” – Planning doesn’t stop, and neither does achievement. There’s no perfect plan, and when you reach your goal, there will be others ahead.
“Life changes in an instant” – from the friend who was out walking with her husband and was in a literally bone-shattering tackle by a playful 130lb dog.
“If you embrace too much, you accomplish little.” – WOW – what a deep one there! Baby steps, slow and steady wins the race, not huge changes!
“You may need to change direction quickly.” Sometimes a well thought out plan has to be abandoned – the market changes – new challenges arise.
“Fail fast, learn fast” – We don’t like to fail, but if we choose to learn from the failure it can be a win!
“There’s always someone worse off than me” – Perspective. Nick Vujicic or Sean Stephenson or Jon Morrow may help with perspective.
“Shortcuts lead to short term results” – pay the price to become the person you need to become to reach the goals you’ve set.
“What are you measuring?” – What gets measured gets done. If you measure the wrong stuff……
“Say ‘No’ to the good to say ‘YES’ to the BEST!” – If we want to reach the highest heights, we have to learn to say no to many many good things. If our calendar is filled with good things, we won’t have time for the BEST. Discipline yourself to say no to the good so you can say yes to the best!
What are some lessons you’ve learned the hard way?
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