Man With a Plan
“A Goal without a plan is just a Wish.”
Last week we were discussing goals and the difference between goals and dreams. Check out that entry when you have a sec. It’s important to understand the distinction between goals and dreams because it’s hard to plan around dreams but it's really simple to plan around goals. Planning is critical to making a dream a reality. Can you achieve something without a plan? Of course and many of us do, the important thing to understand is that it’s like playing on hard mode. If you live in New York and want to get to California you can start driving west, but it will be random and is going to take you a much longer time than if you just mapped it out. Beyond efficiency, planning also allows you to address everything you want while executing. So, if you want to get to California but you want to see certain sights or certain people then you have the opportunity to plan for those things to address what you need.
Why play the game on hard mode when you get get the same prize by moving strategically.
We talked about this in the last entry, but the caliber of the goal is CRITICALLY important in planning. Most people are familiar with S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-Based) goals. These types of goals are the easiest to plan around. The details are there to build out the plan and ensure it addresses the goals. Everything moves both up the chain and back down the chain. The dream, the goal, and the plan are all connected, they all need to be in alignment.
Weak Dreams + Poor Goals + Bad Plan = Frustration
Strong Dreams + Detailed Goals + Good Plan = Success
It seems like common sense, but at the same time putting it into practice can be an adjustment for most people. The very first thing you need to know and take note of is where you are. You cannot build an effective plan to grow, change, or accomplish something if you don’t know your starting point. In the example of getting to California from New York City, you know you need to go west to get to California, but if you don’t know where you are then you could be in Hawaii, and heading west is going to massively delay the amount of time it’s going to take to get to California. The next thing would be to know where you The second thing you need to do in making a plan is to understand your own bandwidth and commitment level. Bandwidth and commitment levels are like knowing how much gas you have in your tank. It’s a good way to measure how aggressive your plans it accomplishing a goal faster and what you can get done over each step of your plan. So what do these things look like in practice? Let’s say your dream is to be very muscular but in breaking that down you want to be at 12% body fat, 400lbs deadlift, and dumbbell press 220 lbs. The first thing is your starting point. What is your current body fat percentage? What is your current 1 rep max for the deadlift and dumbbell press? Knowing that is going to affect how long it’s going to take to get to your goal. It’s going to affect what your training regime looks like. It’s going to affect how you need to eat and what your macros should be. Are you in a situation where you’re working part-time? Your bandwidth may be high so you can train longer and more often. Do you have a family and work three jobs? Then you may have much less time available to commit to the goal so your training time and regiment may be different. What you need to do may not change very much but how you go about it may need to change based on your capability and desire to execute. Without that awareness, you are just increasing the difficulting of achieving your goal.
Every bite size chunk plays into a larger chunk that eventually get you closer to the goal.
We talked about this in the last entry about goals but it applies to planning as well. Bite-sized chunks are usually the best theme to go with in building a plan. Breaking a goal down to what is required to meet it then breaking down how you are going to achieve those goals. In the example of the fitness goal with 12% body fat, 400 lb deadlift, and the dumbbell press of 220 lbs. You need to know what the requirements are based on your baseline. At the very least it’s going to require a couple of things:
Multiple gym sessions each week
A Specific Dietary Regimen
Consistency
So let’s break down the first one. Multiple gym sessions. How does that look for you? How many gym sessions should it be? When are you going to schedule the sessions? Do you need a trainer? All these questions need an answer. Having precision in your plan will help you reduce places where the plan itself doesn’t address the goals. That specificity can also make the plan easier to follow. When all concerns are addressed then you can simply follow the plan. At the same time, no plan is perfect. It’s important to periodically check the plan based on your results to adjust it as needed. A plan that doesn’t address the goal is a useless plan.
This is what is like attempting to achieve a goal without a plan
At the end of the day, planning isn’t required for success, people luck into it all the time, its not much different than the way people win the lottery every year. Someone wins, but most of us never do. The more you strategize and the more information you have on how to pursue the goal the less you have to rely on luck. More importantly, you can replicate success more consistently. Planning isn’t something that only works on a specific goal it works on every goal. Planning isn’t some magical thing that has a one-time use and needs reformulation every time afterward. You can take the same mentality and methodology in how you plan everything in life, no matter how big or how small. Plans are only pointless in achieving a goal for two reasons. The plan doesn’t properly address the goal or because you aren’t sticking to the plan.
Successful plans required committed people.