Why Plan?

To borrow the title from one of sports psychologist Bob Rotella's book, "Like is not a game of perfect". Rarely do all of our plans work out exactly as we plan them. Just when we seem to have everything under control, something totally unexpected happens.

Some people use this as an excuse to do no planning at all. Their rationale is that it does no good to plan because stuff is always going to happen anyway to mess up their plans, particularly as it relates to their personal lives. They prefer to lead a life dictated by events that come along and just go with the flow. They let others and life's events determine what they accomplish.

The problem with this is that people with no plans develop what I call the "victim mindset". Because they have chosen not to make commitments to themselves through goal setting and planning, they can easily blame others for their lack of success and their misery. Everything that happens to them is someone else's fault.

High achievers do two things well. One is that they have established goals and developed plans to achieve those goals. The goals provide a sense of direction for their lives. The more specific the goal, the greater the sense of direction that they have.

The second thing that they do well is accept the fact that surprises will happen. We cannot control what happens to us, but we always control our response to the situation. High achievers understand that uncertainty is part of life. They learn to overcome uncertainty and stay focused on the goal.

GOLF LESSON

There is an interesting dynamic that I observe with golfers. The worse the golfer, the more that they let a bad shot bother them. Professional golfers understand that they are going to hit some bad shots. The great ones recover from the adversity.

A few years ago Tom Kite and Davis Love were tied for the lead going to the last hole at Bay Hill, Arnold Palmer's tournament in Orlando. After Davis flew his second shot over the green, it looked like all that Tom Kite needed to do was put the ball on the green to win or at worst be in a playoff. Instead, he hit the ball into the water next to the green.

Kite then hit his next approach shot close to the hole and made a bogey. He eventually won the tournament in a playoff. His ability to forget the bad shot was key to his win. While the the television announcers were critical of Kite's decision not to play it safe, he viewed it as one of his best wins.