When Plans Don’t Happen…
(What Do You Do Next?)


We often hear this “If you fail to plan then you plan to fail.” This statement is very true in whatever field you can think of.  Whether may it be in competition/sports, study, work, business and life in general. But what happens when the very plan you made failed?

Well just the same with any game, life plans also can either succeed or fail. You either win or lose. Don’t be too hard on yourself if your plans don’t happen the way you perceived them. Maybe it’s just a way to make you look at things in a different perspective. Because you see, sometimes you can’t see things clearly on the first look. You must have focus and persistence to be able to really see things more in-depth. And when your plans don’t happen – IT”S OK!



If You’re on God’s Side, You’re on the Right Side.
(If you’re on the right, then you’re alright!)

No matter what happens, always know that you’ll be alright even if the plan doesn’t happen. (except maybe for skydiving and the likes). Your failure doesn’t diminish your value. No matter what happens, remember that you’re still valuable.

Even if you thought that the plan was almost fool-proof and nothing can seem to go wrong but the unexpected happened and it failed, don’t lose hope. Just think of it this way – maybe it is not the right time for you to succeed. Just be ready when that right time comes and for the meantime be alright.

Take Time to Grieve and Allow Yourself the Process of Recovery

Allow yourself some time to heal. There’s nothing wrong and it is alright to grieve for it is the first step to recovery. Give yourself enough time to go through the healing process until you are ready to accept things and realize that it’s time to move on. Don’t stress yourself more into rushing things especially with the recovery phase. Everything in nature has its perfect time so as with your process of recovery. Live one day at a time is my advice.

See the Bigger Picture not Just the “Zoomed In” Portion

Sometimes when our plans fail, it is just a way to tell us to stop for a while and look at the bigger picture and stop focusing on the “zoomed-in details.” Because we are so pre-occupied with making the plan works, we tend to forget things that are really more important.

Let me cite an example, in our efforts to acquire money and riches we tend to forget why we really want to have money and riches. We tend to focus more on the different plans and way to acquire these things when what we really wanted in the first place is to have ample time to spend with our family and friends and not to worry about anything else. Well guess what, that very purpose you had was beaten by too much focus on acquiring the tool. Money and the riches are just the tools they’re not the main purpose. But because we are very busy focusing on these, we lost the time for our friends and family; the very reason you have in the first place.

Stop and see the bigger the picture and, because you failed, here is your chance.

“I know nothing more despicable and pathetic than a man who devotes all the hours of the waking day to the making of money for money’s sake.” – John D. Rockefeller

Open Your Mind & Heart to Learning

Better be prepared when your plans fail to see the valuable lessons innate with that failure. Experience is what you gain when you don’t get what you want. And there’s no better teacher than experience so as they say. If you focus too much on the failure, these lessons will pass you by like the wind. Always have an open mind and heart to clearly see the lessons and learn from these experiences so that you can avoid the same mistakes in the future.

“The mind is like a parachute, it best works when it is open.”

Know that It’s not the Plan but the Purpose & the People Behind the Plan that is Important

Somewhat related to “seeing the big picture,” knowing that the people and purpose behind the plans which are more important keeps things in level. Plans really do fail, and it’s very normal. That’s why we have plan B, plan C, plan D and so on and so forth. Let not your plan beat the purpose. If you align your vision, purpose and values you can never go wrong. Plans are there to be adjusted and readjusted to serve your purpose and values. If your plans don’t happen, always keep in mind the purpose and the people behind the plans; they are more important. You can always device more new plan/plans.

So there you have it – when plans don’t happen IT’S OK!

Better yet, when your plans fail I suggest that you rather FAIL FORWARD…


No comments:

Post a Comment