Have you ever had a meticulously crafted plan, only to struggle sticking to it? Conversely, can you recall times when it felt like you had no plan, yet achieved something significant? Seemingly a paradox?
Becoming Emotional
Seeing my friends buying their first homes, made me so angry with myself for keeping behind that I purchased my first property within the next five weeks. Not to mention that I’ve never dealt with a property market before, I also was out of the country, when I sat an eye on an auction lot that was triple my budget.
That led me to the realisation that successful projects often begin not with a detailed plan but with a strong emotional desire.
Starting With the End in Mind
When planning a project, start with the end goal. Whether it’s a new business or a personal ambition, work backwards from a desired outcome. This approach ensures that every part of the project is aligned with the overall vision, making the process more manageable and focused.
That’ll also give you clear metrics to track your performance. As well as will help identify milestones and targets, for you to celebrate, so that you stay more driven to move to the next phase of your challenge.
Planning Matters
Being clear that I wanted A property as far as my savings would take me, I set the search. Based on what I found, the investment properties offered a better return. Quickly, I discovered that not all locations were equally desirable or would provide strong capital appreciation. That added new parameters and narrowed my search. It was a similar story with funding. When I finally spotted the property I liked — it turned out to be an action lot triple my budget with a restricted timeframe for completion.
At first, I had no clue where to get the money from. Then, after identifying a relevant type of finance, I worked through a list of prospective lenders, their terms, and criteria, filtering the best fit for me. Simultaneously, I needed to arrange all required paperwork with my accountant and agents. Whatever theoretical plan I’d had in my sleeve beforehand would go to the trash. The actual plan of activities was evolving live based on the project’s demands and the new knowledge I was obtaining.
Kick Off With Swimming Before Nailing a Stroke
Planning is important, but there’s a difference between an actionable and a perfect plan. Working for years with startups I saw hundreds of beautiful pitch decks and thorough business plans of yet uninvestable businesses. On the contrary, I’ve witnessed entrepreneurs presenting basic one-pagers yet accompanied by impressive balance sheets and their industry background.
Planning holds tremendous value for large-scale projects and at an organisational level with multiple stakeholders. It’s also a prerequisite for key participants and leaders to have a deep knowledge of their areas of responsibility. And yet, to prevent rigidity and enable progress down the line, you need to allow some flexibility for required adjustments.
Before plunging into a project, rarely is excess planning justified. A desired outcome determines a course of initial steps. Then, having more clarity helps to set an actionable and achievable plan to reach foreseeable milestones. This approach is far more efficient than spending hours on research to produce a theory-seeded plan. And sometimes, to worsen the matter, it might end up being a plan for a business or a product with no demand.
The same with our generic good-to-have aspirations, like it’s fashionable to be a millionaire and so I want to become one. There should always be a fundamental need and a strong drive to materialise any plan. Addressing that challenge — whether it’s our internal pain, desire, or market demand — highlights the pathway to a solution.
Discover the Approach that Resonates With You
On a day-to-day basis, I, for example, stick better to my scribbled notes than a visually appealing never-ending schedule frightening me at first sight while facing me from a monitor. I’ve tested it 100 times. Sometimes, even not writing things down works better. The reason behind it is quite straightforward. I don’t have a habit of neatly typing down a plan of what I enjoy or will do as a leisure anyway. But I used to do that for my work or business, all the time. With this approach, uncompleted tasks would migrate from one day to another, eventually bursting my calendar.
Guess which one my brain was more excited about a perfect endless to-do manual or a few scribbles about fun stuff? The same with the chorus, I found, that briefly jotted down, they felt like a free choice rather than an obligation, thus, I was more inclined to tackle them quickly without any back thought.
Chasing a Nudging Feeling
On top of that, my mind would treat these neat plans as an accomplished task. No surprise, that much effort went into drafting them. As well as there was that feeling of enjoyment from accomplishments while I was savouring the anticipated victories, so my brain thought we’d reached the destination GOAL already. While at other times, going through endless unknowns, you eventually lose the drive.
A different story with something jotted down — there is always that nudging feeling that I need to finish an outstanding task or a project to accomplish a desired result. Not to mention that handwriting triggers certain brain connections responsible for information processing, memory and creativity. Writing also activates visualisation that triggers our desire to accomplish an outcome. Writing our plans helps to bring our vision to a new level — firstly by sending our brain a signal that now it’s dealing with something real, more than just a mere fantasy. As a result, we’re more inclined to take action and stay driven working towards our achievements.
Weekly Revisions: The Key to Sanity
However, if this approach resonates with you — do regular weekly revisions — that’s a hygiene of your sanity. Your scribbles might create an illusion of more things to do than what reality is. And that’s scary! Yet, once you review your to-do logs and note down the leftovers — you’ll see there aren’t that many things left.
For every long-term or ongoing project, I have a main to-do list, where I jot down everything about that project that pops into my head. But before the start of the week, I’d review that list to pick a few of the most important tasks I plan to address in the next few days.
I also tend to find that within just a week my view on a task: its priority and vagueness or clarity — directly related to my understanding of the matter — can change dramatically. Some things become irrelevant.
Balancing Structure and Creativity
Highly organised workflow and systems are crucial for my productivity because as a naturally creative person, I’m just a magnet for chaos.
To combat this, I waved Goodbye to all memo blocks and sticky notes. Instead, I made it a habit to jot down every idea within a relevant project’s log or a content calendar — wherever it belongs — immediately. That took organising all records and synching across the devices, so the new practice is sustainable and implementable even when I’m on the go.
To keep in front of me major outcomes and priorities, I utilise a large whiteboard. This helps me maintain a clear overview, and focus on the key activities and goals, yet not get overwhelmed by clutter.
Handling Multiple Projects
Managing overlapping projects requires careful time blocking and prioritisation. For example, if you’re juggling working on your Master’s and a startup, you’ll be restricted by the lecture schedule and working hours of your clients and freelancers, so you need to plan things around.
Similarly, when buying a property, you might need to deal with banks, solicitors and agents almost simultaneously. This will push your other priorities to different times. There’s not much you can do about it, but account for this to reduce stress and also expect unforeseen.
Focusing on key outcomes each week and prioritising the most critical tasks can help reduce stress and manage multiple projects efficiently.
The Essence of Effective Planning
Ultimately, effective planning is nothing other than a tool for achieving results, it’s not a goal in itself. Find what resonates with you — whether scribbled notes, structured schedules or specialist software — as long as your project progresses.
To stay focused and maintain productivity, review your goals regularly and adjust your approach accordingly. Flexibility is essential, as long as you have a working system and clear priorities. Remember, it’s not rigid planning, but rather discipline and vision responsible for you staying on track and achieving results.
