Break Through All Your Plans: How to Out-do Your To-Do List
Henry Ford once said, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. While that was great wisdom, it is ironic that Ford stuck so much to his plans that he refused to make adjustments when he was told that people would like cars in colors other than black. Henry Ford is commonly reputed to have made the statement “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.” This rigidity of thought cost him dearly, as other companies like Chrysler came in made significant progress at his expense.
Plans are great. We’ve got to have them. I have a couple. However, we need to be open to doing things that are outside our current plans in order for us to attain significant progress. Outstanding progress comes from doing things that are outside our to-do list. If your desire to stay average then I would understand your need to stick to your plans and do only what is on your to-do list. So, how do we break through our plans?
a). Be open to Feedback - The execution process allows us to learn so much about ourselves and what we are doing. The feedback that we get from the execution process is the main avenue through which we can break through our plans. Success and significant progress comes from implementing that feedback.
b). Review your Plans Daily - Planning is supposed to be a dynamic process. Plans should be flexible. Plans are not supposed to be rigid statue-like blueprints but dynamic changeable tools that support our desires. We are not to serve the plan but the plan is there to serve us. A daily review of our plans allows for this.
c). Experiment Beyond Your Plans - It’s perfectly okay to veer off and experiment beyond your plans every once. How else shall we discover new lands if we don’t march off the map? Maps are good tools to give us direction but we live in a vast world that has boundless opportunity.
Go for it. Break through all your plans!
