True confessions - this one is a “biggy” for me. I tend to want to do everything I can, all at once - regarding something I want to achieve or work towards. Part of the reason for this approach is just to get the job done, part is a lack of patience, but mostly, is the need to achieve a lot in a short time. This is a tough and high standard to maintain. This approach is not sustainable to any situation because, well, circumstances change!

Suddenly income goes down, or bills go up and poof goes the well laid plans. Generally, when I talk to people I find that there are two different approaches to the impacted plan, the first and most common, "guess that plans gone!". The second less common approach is ,"Ok, guess we have to see if we can maintain some version of the plan".

As I grow older, and yes, surprisingly wiser, I realize holding fluidity in a plan is an inherent strength of good planners. Good planners never have one plan, they have a plan that moves with circumstances and changing resources.

As a result, good planners always have a plan while poor planners say they had a plan and it didn't work out. A poor planner may look at a good planners modified plan and say well, that hardly achieves its initial goal so why have a plan. The answer is, to have a plan.