FAILING TO PLAN IS NOTHING BUT PLANNING TO FAIL

                                                                             - By MILAN K SINHA
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail"- Benjamin Franklin

Absolutely true. Planning has been at the  core of all projects, big and small, particularly in our professional world, where everyone is  beset with plethora of assignments to be completed within a time limit and as per the quality specifications. Even in our domestic matters, planning plays an important & comforting role. We also know and appreciate, where there is inadequacy of resources, be it time, money, energy, goods, minerals, machines or whatever, vis-a-vis its requirement - management of resources comes into play and with management, planning runs parallel as an integral component. 

Thomas Alva Edison emphasized this in these words very clearly,"Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing".

For stressing the point further, we may see what some other famous personalities have to say:

• “Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” --Warren Buffett
• “Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all is a form of planning.” -- Gloria Steinem
• "Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort". -- Paul J. Meyer 
• “Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now”-- Alan Lakein 
• "Goals are dreams we convert to plans and take action to fulfill". -- Zig Ziglar
• "Have a plan. Follow the plan, and you'll be surprised how successful you can be. Most people don't have a plan. That's why it's easy to beat most folks".-- Paul "Bear" Bryant, football coach.
• Good plans shape good decisions. That's why good planning helps to make elusive dreams come true. - Lester Robert Bittel

Yes, planning in itself is a unique and thoughtful task which requires lots of inputs  as it is regarded as one of the important time and event/task management technique. In fact, it prepares the road map with requisite details for reaching to the desired goal. The planning process incorporates various strategies such as organising, deputising, supervising, recognising, rewarding etc. with necessary check & balances to be reviewed periodically in totality. Moreover, every planning process  does have cushion for effecting last minute changes, if at all warranted. It also keeps alternatives ready in case some course correction becomes imperative, because we know absolutely well that  every time everything does not go strictly as per the planning due to its dependence on both controllable as well as non-controllable variables. 

To say, perfect planning takes care of unforeseen and unplanned as well, in such a  fashion that for onlookers it looks like a very smooth and  planned activity. Undoubtedly, planning is basically a proactive & dynamic process full of suspense and certainties, which we all experience and enjoy in our life in varying degrees.

          Will meet again with Open Mind. All the Best.