When we fail to plan, we are planning to fail
Dec 13, 2009
GRACE, an accountant in town, arrives at her workplace at 8:00 o’clock. When she arrives, she finds many emails, which she has to read. On top of that, she has some people to attend to.
By Maureen Nakatudde
GRACE, an accountant in town, arrives at her workplace at 8:00 o’clock. When she arrives, she finds many emails, which she has to read. On top of that, she has some people to attend to.
There are also some important documents she has to look for in her file cabinet. This daily ritual takes two-three hours before Grace can start on the day’s work.
For Grace, to manage her work efficiently and be productive, she ought to make a workplan. Without a workplan, Grace, like any other worker, is doomed.
Like an anonymous philosopher said: “Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.â€
Failing to plan is like signing a warrant of failure. Whereas planning is not a guarantee for all your challenges to vanish, it is one of the most significant components needed for success. Like the late Julius Nyerere, the founding father of Tanzania said: “Once you have failed to plan, then you are planning to fail.â€
Obed Yahaya Niwagaba, a consultant at Development Planning Consultants in Kampala, says planning helps one to get focused. Many people wake up with no objective plan of what they are supposed to do on a particular day, he adds. “But when one plans for the day, they will have a clear focus of what they want to do and how to accomplish it.â€
Good planning will help you avoid disruptions and hence be able to focus on attaining your goals. You will also ably handle the inconveniences that come your way because you would have planned for them.
“Planning gives you the motivation to wake up early and reach your workplace in time to accomplish your goals. Planning enables you look for resources in terms of materials, financial and other needs to perform your duties,†Niwagaba says.
At the end of the day or week, depending on how you made your plan, you should evaluate yourself to see if you achieved your objectives. Check where you need to improve or overcome setbacks.
This can only happen if you do plan.
Jain Rupal, a lecturer at Atharva Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai, India, in his article “Importance of planning in business†says when you do not plan, you use 80% your efforts to achieve only 20% of the end results, yet by planning you work less and achieve more.
“By thinking and planning we can reverse this 20% of the efforts achieving 80% of the results,†he argues.
Planning forces you to bring the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.
Planning is vital to induce evaluation procedure in the plan and reward effective implementation.
Always focus on the results as it is the starting point of whole management functions, Rupal says.
Parekh Shweta, the chief executive officer of Parekh Design and Textile Industries, in the same article intimates that planning is not guesswork. “It is rather a conscious determination based on objectives, facts, forecasts and involves choosing among alternatives. It is also an ongoing process that prevents small problems from becoming big.â€
She recommends that one spends 10-15 minutes at the beginning of each day, planning for the day or next day.
This will help you to schedule your priority task, organise yourself well, ensure unity in decision making, achievement of purpose and provides solutions to problems, which helps in survival, growth and progress. When planning one shouldn’t be rigid, but keep some free time incase something unexpected happens.
GRACE, an accountant in town, arrives at her workplace at 8:00 o’clock. When she arrives, she finds many emails, which she has to read. On top of that, she has some people to attend to.
There are also some important documents she has to look for in her file cabinet. This daily ritual takes two-three hours before Grace can start on the day’s work.
For Grace, to manage her work efficiently and be productive, she ought to make a workplan. Without a workplan, Grace, like any other worker, is doomed.
Like an anonymous philosopher said: “Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.â€
Failing to plan is like signing a warrant of failure. Whereas planning is not a guarantee for all your challenges to vanish, it is one of the most significant components needed for success. Like the late Julius Nyerere, the founding father of Tanzania said: “Once you have failed to plan, then you are planning to fail.â€
Obed Yahaya Niwagaba, a consultant at Development Planning Consultants in Kampala, says planning helps one to get focused. Many people wake up with no objective plan of what they are supposed to do on a particular day, he adds. “But when one plans for the day, they will have a clear focus of what they want to do and how to accomplish it.â€
Good planning will help you avoid disruptions and hence be able to focus on attaining your goals. You will also ably handle the inconveniences that come your way because you would have planned for them.
“Planning gives you the motivation to wake up early and reach your workplace in time to accomplish your goals. Planning enables you look for resources in terms of materials, financial and other needs to perform your duties,†Niwagaba says.
At the end of the day or week, depending on how you made your plan, you should evaluate yourself to see if you achieved your objectives. Check where you need to improve or overcome setbacks.
This can only happen if you do plan.
Jain Rupal, a lecturer at Atharva Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai, India, in his article “Importance of planning in business†says when you do not plan, you use 80% your efforts to achieve only 20% of the end results, yet by planning you work less and achieve more.
“By thinking and planning we can reverse this 20% of the efforts achieving 80% of the results,†he argues.
Planning forces you to bring the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.
Planning is vital to induce evaluation procedure in the plan and reward effective implementation.
Always focus on the results as it is the starting point of whole management functions, Rupal says.
Parekh Shweta, the chief executive officer of Parekh Design and Textile Industries, in the same article intimates that planning is not guesswork. “It is rather a conscious determination based on objectives, facts, forecasts and involves choosing among alternatives. It is also an ongoing process that prevents small problems from becoming big.â€
She recommends that one spends 10-15 minutes at the beginning of each day, planning for the day or next day.
This will help you to schedule your priority task, organise yourself well, ensure unity in decision making, achievement of purpose and provides solutions to problems, which helps in survival, growth and progress. When planning one shouldn’t be rigid, but keep some free time incase something unexpected happens.