This is a guest post from Martin over at TheUniversityBlog, I’ll let Martin crack straight into it;
Planning is important. You don’t get anywhere fast without a sense of where you’re going.
But how much should you plan? It recently struck me that successful people who appear to exercise great control over their lives often share an important quality. They understand that no matter how much they try to shape their life and their successes, there are no guarantees.
You can plan to build, plan to produce, and plan to make an impact. But you can’t genuinely plan to control. Nobody can do that. If their plan to control succeeds, it’s not down to planning. It’s down to luck.
Now more than ever, you cannot control what’s said about you, what’s said about your brand, or how the chaos will impact upon your future.
You need to work with the chaos, not against it or away from it. Methods of doing this include:
• Damage limitation – Faced with difficulty, it’s tempting to put your head in the sand and wait until the situation has passed. Bad move. A crisis requires a reaction before the problem spins out of control. Damage limitation is difficult and needs to be dealt with quickly, but it’s much easier than simply waiting to clear up the mess at the end.
• Openness – We’re under so much scrutiny that anything other than an open attitude is begging for trouble. Openness is about stating clear aims and not hiding behind unhelpful inaccuracies. The clearer your purpose is to others, the clearer the route should be.
• A giving attitude – Believe it or not, everyone can provide value at some point. No matter how you feel about web-celebs like Gary Vaynerchuk, Chris Brogan, Darren Rowse, and so on, you can’t deny that these people give and give and give. Yet they make a lot of money. You don’t always have to charge for value. Just look at this site. James puts in countless hours of work to make this site what it is. And for what payback? Payback will come in time precisely *because* of the giving. Offer consistent value and people will be happier to pay for even more of your output. As Vaynerchuk might say, “The game has changed, my friend”.
• Acceptance - Until you allow chaos to play a part in your life, you’re at a dead end. Belief in what you can do is one thing, belief that you can do it perfectly and with no outside disruption is another.
• Limited focus, unlimited ambition – Think of the phrase “jack of all trades and master of none”. There comes a time when you need to focus on a limited number of goals and get rid of the less important stuff. That shouldn’t put a limit on your ambition. Firstly, as your plans and successes grow, you can delegate more (no harm in transferring some of your control to the right people). Secondly, even top entrepreneurs concentrate on a limited number of projects before moving on to other ones. Spread yourself too thinly from the outset and chaos will have a field day.
These are just a few examples of working with chaos. As you calm the uncontrollable forces hitting you from all angles, you’ll discover many more methods.
Calming these forces is more effective – and more fun – than chasing an elusive ‘magic bullet’. I don’t believe in magic bullets, because no gun has been made to fire them accurately, without fail. More often than not there are wasted bullets flying everywhere and landing nowhere.
With the right attitude, chaos needn’t get in your way. Sure, it will keep you on your toes, it will surprise you and it won’t always let you take the sexiest route to your goals. But exercise awareness and none of that will matter. What’s the point in preparing for absolutely everything? Commit to working hard toward success and you can stand up to all that chaos has to throw at you.
The upshot? Plan, but don’t plan too much. No matter how clear you are about the destination, you don’t know what’s around the corner.
Martin Hughes writes at TheUniversityBlog on student affairs and achieving a full, entertaining, productive, and successful life experience.
How easy it is for most of us to believe that we can have control over everything. Such belief is the root cause of our resistance to chaos. Unless we become aware of this propensity, success on our goals will likely to be blur.
So true, Walter. Our situations are blurry enough even without the help of chaos. We need as little blur as possible!
.-= Martin – TheUniversityBlog´s last blog ..EduLinks – Wikis, Politics & Common Sense =-.
Martin,
You’re absolutely right! I’m finding out that thing I planned 6 months ago haven’t really worked out like I thought they would. I’m not going to entirely wing it but next thing on my list is letting go of controlling and planning.
.-= Moon Hussain´s last blog ..Are You Embarrassed Of Saying “Passive Income” Out Loud? =-.
Best of luck in your next projects, Moon.
I’ve known people to plan even a simple social event to the very last minute. I’m not talking a formal event either. Just a visit to a bar would require precise timing and a plan on what we would do once there.
The result? Less control than those who had done no planning at all. As you say, you can’t entirely wing a major plan, but many things within the plan can take place off the cuff.
.-= Martin – TheUniversityBlog´s last blog ..EduLinks – Wikis, Politics & Common Sense =-.
Great article and well written too.
Chaos is actually orderly when you see the ultimate big picture…But we always do not.
The whole universe is in what we will term a “chaotic state” but it is balanced out by order simultaneously.
Life is awesome. Thrive in the chaos. That is what we were created to do.
.-= Olusegun´s last blog ..I’m back – Rising from the Ashes like a Phoenix =-.
“Thrive in the chaos.”
Amen to that! Thanks, Olusegun.
.-= Martin – TheUniversityBlog´s last blog ..EduLinks – Wikis, Politics & Common Sense =-.
I do my best to plan – but I also leave myself open to change. I create a to-do list, but I’ve also got to know when it’s time to be flexible and when it’s time to stick to the plan. The great thing about planning though, is that if you at least have one, you have something to work with – if it needs to be changed, at least you have a starting point. But yes, you definitely have to accept the fact that we’re absolutely not in control
Thanks for sharing this insightful post.
.-= Kiesha @ WeBlogBetter´s last blog ..Enjoy date night (or day) with the kids =-.
Sounds like you’ve got a good setup there, Kiesha. Especially the fact that you expect the unexpected. Anyone who doesn’t have that as part of their plan is in danger.
Long may your plans go to plan!
.-= Martin – TheUniversityBlog´s last blog ..EduLinks – Wikis, Politics & Common Sense =-.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Martin. At the end of the day a plan is a variant of a guess. No one knows how the future will turn out. No one can predict the future.
If you started refereing to everything as guess, people would look at you very strangely. Project guess, marketing guess, financial guess….
I believe that you a plan should be simple and straight forward and focus on the outcomes you want to achieve. The can be the intent, but it needn’t be rigid.
.-= Matthew Needham: The Big Red Tomato Company´s last blog ..How to Invest In Property =-.
Thanks, Matthew. I love the idea of calling everything a ‘guess’ instead of a ‘plan’. I’m so tempted to do that now.
The focus should usually be concentrated on overall outcomes. Unless you know what you want to achieve in total, you can’t forge ahead confidently anyway. Some goals do require more planning, but I agree with you…no matter how much you need to plan, it needn’t be rigid.
.-= Martin – TheUniversityBlog´s last blog ..EduLinks – Wikis, Politics & Common Sense =-.
Hi Martin,
I think Keisha had it right when she said that, at least, if you have a plan you have something to work with.
Your post also reminded me of a quote (I like quotes – James, I think you’ll like this one) from Dwight Eisenhower who said, “The plan is useless; it’s the planning that’s important.”
Adrian
.-= Adrian Swinscoe´s last blog ..Leadership and Your Team: Open book or closed book? =-.
Thanks for the Eisenhower quote, Adrian. Given my niche (Higher Education), I tend to like quotations too!
Planning is a process that doesn’t stop after the initial plan is set. Many plans start off one thing and finish looking totally different at the other end. Nothing wrong with that. It’s to be expected.
.-= Martin – TheUniversityBlog´s last blog ..EduLinks – Wikis, Politics & Common Sense =-.
Planning is just as important as understanding that your plans will never go exactly as you planned. The point then is to keep going and figuring out how to make things work as best you can because having no plan make things worse in the end.
Having a clear goal and focusing on that helps out so much.
Great article.
.-= Eric´s last blog ..Lets Help Each Other: Monthly Experience (February – March) =-.
Thanks for the kind words, Eric.
A clear goal shows you know the destination, yet you’re aware there may be a need to detour. Hopefully not too many!
.-= Martin – TheUniversityBlog´s last blog ..EduLinks – Wikis, Politics & Common Sense =-.
For me, acceptance is the factor that I need to really get a grip on.
Like what you said, there is nothing wrong with planning. We just to accept that there will be unexpected events that can and will alter our course.
.-= Julius´s last blog ..Learning About Web Accessibility Through Everyday Tasks =-.
I think some of us may accept unexpected events can happen, but not that they *will*. There’s a mistaken thought of “If I plan ahead now, I’ll stop anything unexpected”.
I’m with you…We need to accept whatever *will* happen and adjust accordingly.
.-= Martin – TheUniversityBlog´s last blog ..EduLinks – Wikis, Politics & Common Sense =-.
Yep, I only do minimalistic planning – I know what to do now, and the basic direction of where I want to go ! I don’t really believe in business plans – life is really way to unpredictable for that. To hell with the details, I just need my creative crusade !
However, I believe in semi-control; IF you’re really tuned with your soul, and you’re fulfilling your life’s purpose, then things tend to go in order !
.-= Mars Dorian´s last blog ..What’s Your Mission ? =-.
Your belief in semi-control is essentially understanding you’re not in control. That’s good stuff, Mars. You’ve set out a purpose and you’re in tune with your wants and needs, so there’s more chance future actions will appear natural. And right!
Let’s raise our glasses to exercising semi-control!
.-= Martin – TheUniversityBlog´s last blog ..EduLinks – Wikis, Politics & Common Sense =-.
Hey Martin,
It is great to see people getting back to helping others. I don’t think the game has changed. I think that some were playing it wrong. The basic idea has been around for ages.
Control is an illusion, once you let go of trying to control everything, you will find peace.
The things that should be yours come your way effortlessly, and the things that aren’t, either don’t come or leave, peacefully.
The reason I follow James is because I think we think the same way, and I can see why he wanted you to guest post.
Great Job.
See you around.
Neil
Control is an illussion
Very good point, Neil. The basic idea of helping others isn’t new. Perhaps we should say:
“The game has returned, my friend”
.-= Martin – TheUniversityBlog´s last blog ..EduLinks – Wikis, Politics & Common Sense =-.
I like it, has a nice ring to it.
This is a great reminder that no matter how much or how hard we plan there are forces that are beyond our control. We just have to be adaptable and monitor our plans as much as possible.
I do think that they serve as one way to structure our goals and provide one pathway to follow. But, as we all know, there are many paths to our ultimate goal. Having the belief that you will get there, regardless of how strigently you follow your ‘plan’, is more important.
Interesting topic and discussion, Martin.
Karen
.-= Karen´s last blog ..Warning: Following These 5 Tips May Get You Out Of Your Rut =-.
Thanks, Karen.
I’d say it’s wise to believe in your goals and to make sure you take nothing for granted. I’m happy you mentioned adaptability, because it’s so important, yet we often forget to exercise it.
.-= Martin – TheUniversityBlog´s last blog ..EduLinks – Wikis, Politics & Common Sense =-.
Mmm I’m torn Martin.
Firstly I completely agree that one of the differentiators of successful people is that even though they plan, that they are adaptable and flexible in their approach so that they can maximise the successful results they get.
But I have to disagree that successful people are not in control and that we need to adopt an idea that we need to be in the same position. By reacting to a crisis and performing damage limitations, as you say, you are taking back some form of control. By defining their focus and channelling it in to certain projects, successful entrepreneurs are taking control. In particular, control of what they are paying attention to and what they are working on. To say that they do not have some form of control suggests that they are just riding luck, which very rarely brings success.
In my work with young people all over the country, including in higher education, I have the privilege of speaking to tens of thousands young people every year. One of the core messages that all young people need to understand is that they are in control of their lives. Too many believe that success is out of their reach and beyond their control. Nothing could be further from the truth. By regaining control of what they do, what they focus on and of the chaos that reigns around them, young people can indeed create the successes that they desire.