Note: This is an audio version of the latest IoNTELLIGENCE Professional Development Brief. While podcasts are usually only available to paid Community Members, this one is available to everyone.
IoNTELLIGENCE draws on science and strategy to help busy people achieve professional success, personal transformation, and lasting happiness in ten minutes a week.
Time Investment: 10 Minutes.
Goal: Provide a 5-step framework to help you avoid the pitfalls of plans but succeed in high-performance planning.
Photo by Ann H
As the famous business thinker Mike Tyson once noted, "Everyone has a plan until you get punched in the face.”
That sentence says as much about the value of a plan as it does about the disruptive power of a punch. But does your strategy really go out the window as soon as reality intercedes? The truth is more complicated.
A plan is a sequence of actions describing how to accomplish a goal. While the actual step-by-step list might end up having limited value, the act of planning is always valuable. In an era of volatility and uncertainty, thinking through contingencies is particularly critical before disruption—or disaster—strikes. After all, the best time to figure out what you’d save in a fire is not while the house is burning down around you.
Here’s why plans are useless, planning is priceless, and why we formulate strategies in the first place.
🚨 If You Only Do One Thing From This List
Have a Plan A, a Plan B, and a Plan Z.
🏆 The 60-Second Shift
The IoNTELLIGENCE Top 5®️ Rules of High-Performance Planning: Beware of Planning as “Productivity Theater.” Have a Plan A, a Plan B, and a Plan Z. Sticking to the program is the hard part. Prioritize preparation over prediction. Plan across multiple time horizons.
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