We’ve all heard the saying, “Failing to plan is planning to fail”. A plan is necessary to succeed at anything, especially self-improvement. But people often labor without a clear plan in mind, leading them to become frustrated, upset, and ultimately hopeless.
Not all plans are created equal. Here are some suggestions that will help you construct better plans and improve your likelihood of success.
Plans Are Usually Too Optimistic
For over ten years, I’ve researched people’s plans. I’ve studied plans for completing tasks and plans for increasing exercise frequency. Over and over again, I’ve found that people’s plans are usually too optimistic. Most contain almost no consideration of how things might go wrong.
People anticipate that everything will go as well as it possibly can. They don’t consider set-backs or, heaven forbid, mistakes that they might make. In fact, they typically don’t consider the possibility that they will make any mistakes.
Because their plans are too optimistic, people’s expectations of themselves are too great. Research has consistently shown that people fall short of their expectations. People finish school assignments and household chores much later than expected. They don’t exercise as much as expected.
This problem is not trivial. Failing to meet expectations can make us feel bad about ourselves. In some instances, we might give up on our goals in despair.
Please keep this in mind. Consider the possibility of set-backs. By doing so, you can plan how to overcome them. Realize that sometimes reality ‘conspires’ against you: There might be times when your new exercise plan has to be put aside. Maybe your favorite uncle dies and you have to turn your life upside-down for a week. Maybe your kid gets sick (which means you get sick…). If you anticipate interruptions, you won’t be as thrown when they occur. When an interruption is over, you can get back to business.
Make Mini-Plans
Big picture plans are necessary, but they aren’t enough. Suppose you’re planning to exercise more. You could tell yourself something like, I’ll go to the gym three times each week. I’ll go in the morning before my husband and kids are awake.” Sounds good. But which three days? Will you prepare the night before?
There is no way to plan every detail. Plus, how would you remember it? Instead, form ‘mini-plans’ that are put into action soon after. For example, before you go to bed at night, simply tell yourself, “When I wake up in the morning, I will put on my gym clothes and get in the car.” It seems inconsequential, but research psychologists have repeatedly demonstrated the value of forming these mini-plans (they call them ‘implementation intentions’).
So, failing to plan is planning to fail. But, remember to be realistic when you plan, and don’t expect the “grand plan” to do all the work for you. Mini-plans can do a lot to get you to your goals. Best of luck.
Ian Newby-Clark is Professor of Psychology at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. He studies habits and methods for changing them. You can read more about his findings at his blog, My Bad Habits.
Thanks for the great article. That makes a lot of sense to make mini plans. I recently did a bit of an overhaul on my goals and the way I go about reaching them. I put what can be called mini-plan actions on my calendar so that each day a list of items that need to be done pops up on my computer. It has been a real help in organizing my activities so that I reach my goals. I don’t have to remember them (or forget them) and it feels great when I check them off!
Cheers
I agree, mini plans are certainly effective at breaking things down into chunks. It was interesting to see that there is actual scientific research to back that up.
Good article. Mini-plans seem to be the cure for the “daily grind” when it comes to making the bigger plans come together. If I plan on getting a 3.5 GPA or higher this term, and I don’t plan on how I’m going to do it week-by-week or day-by-day, I may as well not have a plan at all. Making big and optimistic plans fail when it comes to the everyday ins and outs of those plans. This article is a good supplement to the one you (John) wrote about overcoming a loss of motivation.
Marc,
I hadn’t thought of it before, but there are definitely some similarities between the 2 articles. Taking things step-by-step and being realistic about goals are both great ways to stay motivated.
Mini-plans are also great for boosting your confidence. It feels great when you complete a task and tick it off on your mini-plan
Andrew
Very true. That’s why working out in the morning is such a productivity booster–getting something done first thing creates a surge of confidence.
Great article! Its good to know that I’m far from being the only “over-achiever” out there.
I’ve started scheduling revisits of my plans to see whats working and not working, since crash and burn seems to be a regular occurrence, and this makes it easier to pick up and keep going.
mini plans are great – I just have to take notes to make sure I remember lol
I’ve also noticed first thing in the morning is a good time to plan to do stuff I don’t particularly like doing, eg this is when I now wash my kitchen floor. I’m energetic enough to do most anything, and I don’t have time to talk myself out of it
I have daily plan, weekly plan, monthly plan, half year, and annual plan too. The thing is making sure that everything in the plan is achievable.
I was not doing it from the start but experimented with many different techniques.
The trick I think is incorporate everything in these plans – everything I am involved in – work, personal, life, social life, finances, friends, etc – every aspect that I need to process and succeed.
I am kind of single point of processing of everything I process. If there is a collision between personal plan and job stuff then something won’t be done. Thus the plan is not achievable.
For example my daily plan may consist of “Office work”, “customer visit”, “writing doc”, “time with kids”, “call parents”, etc.
My biggest achievement I think was controlling my work life balance to the point where I got nice annual bonus. At the same time my wife told me “hey, are you doing your job well at work? I see you too much at home”