PLAN SUCCESS!

Careful planning is vital for executing projects

BY Archana Law

As Benjamin Franklin once said, “if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” Though this may be obvious, many of us find ourselves dealing with the consequences of not planning. Certainly, no one plans to fail but sometimes too many priorities, insufficient time or a lack of self-discipline results in a failure to plan. This can make the difference between an awesome victory and a tragic loss.

PLANNING A fascinating story about planning is the race to the South Pole in 1911 between a successful expedition led by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and the failed attempt led by Robert Falcon Scott.

This seemed to be a perfectly matched competition since both men were experienced and roughly the same age. However, Amundsen and his team planted the Norwegian flag when Scott’s expedition was about 580 kilometres and 34 days away.

Moreover, the former was already on his way back to Norway when the latter’s exhausted and frostbitten team gave up hope. Their frozen bodies were discovered eight months later.

Amundsen had been preparing for years by adopting an intensive long-term fitness regimen and learning to dogsled. Scott’s team pulled their sledges themselves, moving far more slowly and exhausting themselves along the way.

The Norwegian had laid down supply caches along the route and marked them with black flags so that on their way back, they’d see them. Scott hadn’t done that.

Starting out, Amundsen stored three tons of supplies for five men while Scott had one ton for 17 men. The Norwegian brought four thermometers while Scott brought one, which broke.

Even though both knew it was impossible to eliminate all risks, Amundsen was prepared for the worst weather, unexpected geographical challenges and other hurdles. Scott appears to have operated in the hope that everything would work out all right.

PERSISTENCE In 2006, an aspiring PhD candidate (Angela Duckworth) observed that some people seem to exhibit more grit than others and can tackle long-term challenges better, regardless of their IQ. Several years later, her 2013 TED Talk titled ‘Grit – The Power of Passion and Perseverance’ catapulted the two traits of grit and resilience into the vernacular.


When we demonstrate grit, it’s because we’ve had the resilience to push ourselves over, through, around and sometimes even under obstacles. When discussing the attributes of successful people, persistence is often mentioned as ‘the’ or one of the most important factors for success.

Highly persistent people find ways to keep going despite major setbacks and a lack of evidence that they are moving closer toward their goals.

STRATEGIES So how do you progress when you integrate planning and persistence in your life or career? Select strategies that work best for you; and understand that even though one strategy works well under a particular circumstance, it may not do so under another. Progress is a fluid process and the road to achieving goals is highly personal.

WHAT YOU WANT Have a crystal clear vision of your desired future state. Without it, you’ll flounder – because you don’t know where you’re going. Trying to determine the direction for every step forward can be exhausting.

WHY YOU WANT IT Once you know what you want, you can regularly remind yourself why you want it. When I repeat my mantra ‘you didn’t come this far to only come this far,’ I remind myself why I’m working for this outcome in the first place.

BELIEVE IN ‘YOU’ Moving toward your goals can be lonely, and progress requires a strong self-belief system and inner compass. Boost your self-confidence: practise gratitude, surround yourself with positive people, remind yourself how far you’ve come and believe that failure isn’t an option.

BE FLEXIBLE One of the most important aspects of progress is flexibility and the ability to quickly pivot when an unexpected roadblock appears in your path. Your inability to accept change derails your capacity to move forward. People fixate on what they think should happen rather than accept what will happen.

OUTLINE STEPS Define clear action steps – even if it means saying ‘no’ to other things. Persistence requires a laser focus and demands that you turn away from other opportunities that may be great but don’t align with your desired end goal.

BE DISCIPLINED Intention is one thing; execution another. Without a disciplined plan of action, we remain in a reactive mindset – always responding to the latest email, phone call, text or notification. If an activity is not aligned with our goal, do not engage.

At the end of the day, life needs to be lived to its full potential. Despite the many variables that we can’t control, we have 24 hours a day and 168 hours a week… what we do with it is up to us.