Daily Inspiration: “Avoid chaos. It’s better to have an actual plan than the ‘concepts of a plan’” 

“Avoid chaos. It’s better to have an actual plan than the ‘concepts of a plan’” – Futurist Jim Carroll

Let’s talk about planning.

It seems that a lot of people are suddenly talking about planning. Indeed, it seems there was a sudden spike in the universe around the idea of having a ‘concept of a plan’ as opposed to an actual plan. This seems to have happened the evening of September 10.

And I’m willing to admit that sometimes when I am golfing and confronted with complexity, I might often start with the concept of a plan.

But here’s the thing –  as a futurist, who tends to deal with the issues you need to think about to get to tomorrow, I’m a big fan of having at least some sort of plan. Not just a concept. You need to move beyond the ‘conceptual’ phase if you want to get anything done.

And in many cases, it’s usually a good idea to plan to have a plan. And yes, it’s generally better to have a concrete plan than just a “concept of a plan.” After all, a plan provides clarity – it’s useful for achieving goals, meeting timelines and responsibilities, and such. Kind of useful stuff, don’t you think?

Oh, and it’s helpful too for execution – it will help you get things done, by outlining the specific actions that need to be taken. Come to think about it, without a plan, you can miss some really important steps, leading to delays and failure and worse. A plan also gives you measurability and accountability – a useful metric to see how you are doing. Not only that but will feed you with the oxygen of adaptability – if you have a plan,  you will know when you need to adapt and change your plan when it inevitably goes off the rails.

Come to think of it, does a ‘concept of a plan’ actually go off the rails? Inquiring minds want to know.

So, ya, in most cases, I’m pretty much in favor of having a ‘plan’ as opposed to a ‘concept of a plan.’

Leaders are fans of plans too. A McKinsey study found that having a clear plan or framework significantly impacts leadership effectiveness. Indeed, in that study, 92% of leaders who embraced a comprehensive leadership framework (big consulting speak for ‘plans’) felt confident in their ability to lead during times of change, compared to only 21% of those without a clear structure!

So plans matter.

By the way, today’s image comes courtesy of a famous scene from the TV series “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” – and a famous scene in which the mailroom guy could not find a fellow named “Pepe Silvia.”  Conceptually, he was struggling to find a concept of a plan to deal with finding Pepe. But maybe that’s another story for another day.

Oh, and I always like to ask MidJourney to use AI to generate an image from my quote of the day. This is what I got.

It’s pretty chaotic.

Chaos happens.

Have a plan.