How Important is it to Maintain Balance Between Planning and Working

Created In: CANVA

They say "action speaks louder than words".

This is normally referring to people who claim to be good at something or they want to preach about certain moral values to other people, yet, when they think nobody can see them, they don't practice what they preach.

I want to take this a step further today...

We all know it's foolish to chase after the dream of overnight riches.

Unless you are that one in I don't know how many millions to win the Lotto or you've been born into a millionaire family, it's just not going to happen.

So, we all set out to work towards success, whatever success might mean to you.

But, here is where the first challenge comes in.

It's another well-known principle and it can be said in two ways.

• Plan your work and work you plan.
  or
• Failing to plan is planning to fail.

But there are also two parts to this principle.

Obviously, it is planning and working. And in that order.

We often get so carried away with "the big picture" that we just dive in and start working our butts off and we end up chasing our own tails. We try to bite off more than we can chew and we often get hurt in the process. All due to a lack of proper planning.

But we also need to consider another scenario.

You know it's going to take time. You know it's going to be hard work and it might even require long hours. You also know you have to plan properly.

So you start planning...and planning...and planning. You tell everybody about your great plans and the great results you are expecting... So you plan even more...

When someone asks you about your progress... "No, I'm still planning", is often the answer. Maybe you have started something small...which is good...but to seriously start working and create growth...you are still planning.

It's often a matter of "everything is not in place yet" or "everything is not perfect yet".

What on earth are we waiting for?

When will everything be in place? When will everything be perfect?

No plan will ever be perfect from the beginning. We need to realize that there is a balance to be maintained in this principle.

Yes, we need to start by planning indeed. But we need to start implementing that plan as soon as we have actionable items in our plan.

It is only when we start taking action on those small steps, that we can see if it is actually going to work or where we need to make changes.

Rather make small mistakes that are easier to correct than making big mistakes later which can be costly.

Those smaller action steps will get you going. You can tweak and make corrections as you go along. As you tweak and adjust your plan on the way, you can start growing.

Getting stuck in elaborate planning alone often leads to taking no action at all.

Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned. ~ Peter Marshall

So, just as action speaks louder than words, small deeds (action steps) will bring you better results than great plans on paper that never get executed.

As you take action in those smaller things, it also becomes easier to develop your plan into a great blueprint as you grow with it.

I hope this was helpful.

Thank you for reading my post.

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