Blinded By Plan A

We work with so many people who have their plan and simply cannot see beyond it.

They have a fixation on something or a linear view of progression to their goals. It may be that they know they need to go to a certain university or do a particular degree to get a certain job that will see them promoted by the time they are thirty which they know will make them happy for the rest of their life!

How can that possibly be the case, because life simply isn’t like that!

How many people do you meet that are doing their Plan A from 10 years ago? I know I am not as while all the ingredients were there, Powering Your Potential was not in my Plan A.

How many people do you know in their teens and early twenties who wanted to work in recruitment, health and safety, own a coffee shop or sell fireplaces!

My daughter for a long time did not even have a plan A. She simply didn’t know what she wanted to do.

I used to say don’t worry darling what you want to do probably hasn’t been invented yet. Research tells us that is often the case. Think back 10 years at all the roles that didn’t exist today that are commonplace now.

Drone pilots, App developers and roles in Artificial Intelligence simply didn’t exist and the pace of change means that new roles are developing and old ones will become obsolete at an increasing rate.

There is undoubtedly a need for a plan and a direction in your life but it certainly isn’t a straight line that has a set timeline. It cannot be hard and fast as you will have to be adaptable, be flexible and balance your long term goals with rigidly sticking to a short term plan.

Your current plan is based on what you know now, not what could happen in terms of relationships, children, family, health issues and a whole range of economic and technological things that you can’t and in reality don’t want to be able to control.

So don’t be blinded by Plan A or be afraid of Plan B, C, D or E remain focused on your goals but prepared to embrace change as your life does and enjoy rather than get frustrated by the journey you take to get there.