What is a Good Plan?

(Another Covid-19 Lesson)

I have always been a super-duper planner, “platinum standard”! I have been told that by everyone who knows me well (yes, I do mean everyone), and also people who’ve spent just a few hours with me. I also definitely believe it myself without needing to be told by anyone else. Though recently, over the last two-three years, and now particularly due to Covid-19, my “plans” have just not been working out the way I envisioned and designed them. Yes, guilty! I actually put down my plans on paper with every single detail! And then beat myself up (and oftentimes others or the events around me) when things haven’t gone according to my “super” plan. I even claimed credit for having transferred this “planning tendency” to people I have influence over; in particular my son, and held my head in pride when he stuck to his plans and even when he questioned or often beat himself up when he couldn’t.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me talk about my plans for the last couple of years. Oh, the signs have been there forever; I am sure they have been there for decades, but I have turned a blind eye to them, in my indomitable style . The first time it struck me was about two years ago, when I had planned a trip with some close friends for a weekend; and of course, I had planned the meals, the rooming list, practically an agenda! To my horror and dismay, it was not what everyone wanted to do. The ever-diplomatic Mala changed the plan, but till very recently, I judged myself thinking that the trip was a failure!

Several such instances have occurred; my husband’s 50th birthday, where in my plan, I had actually expected everything to play out as a well-rehearsed script but of course, it didn’t turn out that way. A very close friend told me right after, that “however much we plan, we should be happy with what we get in the end’. I took his comment to mean that it was a failure, or a partial success at best. I would have made a great movie director; the way I expected ‘real-life’ characters to play out my written script for them. Well, the final blow was Covid-19 and the intense planning for my son’s graduation in the US. That was my biggest and best plan for 2020, and in a minute, it shattered completely.

So, what do I do now, when practically all my “well-thought and laid out” plans are coming to naught! If I was the Mala of two years ago, I would have been a complete wreck, and perhaps driven my long-suffering husband up the wall too! Instead, thanks largely to my coaching journey with “The Coach Partnership” (previously Newfield), here I am channeling my myriad of thoughts into writing this article !

No, I am not going to stop planning, and yes, I am still going to plan. What has changed then, you might ask me? What has changed is my definition of a “good” plan. And therein I finally get to what I’m saying: what is a “good” plan?

Again, you could ask; why this realization now? The beginning was at Newfield, when, for the very first time, I actually understood what a plan encompasses; in terms of the undisputed fact that a plan is all about the future! And when I acknowledged to myself the word ‘future’, it suddenly brought with it a whole new meaning to my plan. Yes, it’s my ‘perfect plan’ in the totally imperfect future! While I am designing my plan in every detail, do I have the means to design the future? Do I even want to be held responsible to do so? The biggest realization came from these questions; I do not want to be responsible for anything beyond the plan! Certainly not!

I am still going to make plans, knowing that what is in my control is ONLY the design/ vision of the plan, and NOTHING ELSE! The execution, result, impact, and every single other aspect is not about my plan at all. My plan is just the vision and design I have for it, and of course, I can still hope that things go according to my plan. However, I will not be held responsible for what I cannot control, which includes accepting my emotions too, as my emotions are subject to change with changing circumstances (again not in my control). Yes, I will take control back for how I deal with the above accepted emotions, but I will not judge myself for having emotions I hadn’t planned for.

That is all that I am starting with for myself, but I can say with certainty that a lot of people out there are not beginners like me. So, for you “more evolved” (again a judgment and my opinion only) people out there, what is a good plan?

A good plan, as per my assessment only, is something which not only has the capability to convert to a plan B, or C, or D; but also starts with the very premise that the only plan I can be sure of at this moment is that my plan is going to need tweaking/ rethinking/ deleting in EVERY aspect of the plan. And I don’t “plan” for the tweaking now (because, believe me, I would), as we can’t plan for what we don’t know today. We can only plan for change, as that is a near certainly, more so in the times we live in now in the 21st Century (with or without Covid-19).

In the end, a “good” plan is truly one that has total, and I mean TOTAL, flexibility to change completely! And only you are the master of that flexibility! Not just on paper, but first and foremost in your head!

So, here’s a shout out to people who can make plans and change them without blinking and without judging anyone or anything, including themselves! Please do reach out to me; it’s a call for help from a person who has got the acceptance, but not the confidence yet!! A call to action to “planners” like me, what is your next plan going to be like?