Keep Your Plan in Your Hands, Not in Your Drawer ©

Many of you have written to tell me how hard it is to stick to a plan. You get busy and you forget that you even had a plan. I learned how this happens in business many years ago.

I had just started my new job at MasterCard in New York City. I was attending my first strategic planning meeting. All the top leaders of the division were there. Greg was one of them.

In the middle of the morning session Greg yelled out, "Why are we wasting so much time on this plan?! You know where we're going to put it after the conference?!"

Not being afraid to speak his mind, Greg answered his own question. "It's going to go in the drawer with all the rest of our annual plans!" I admit that was a better answer than the one I feared.

There are two conclusions you might draw from this story. (1) The plan wasn't good. (2) No one really looks at plans.

In our case the plan was good. We had all the top leaders in the division in attendance. Every functional area was represented. We had customer feedback, consulting input, and an extensive review of our opportunities and threats in the marketplace. The plan was good.

But Greg was right. The plan did go in the drawer. Most people did not look at it again.

So why didn't we look at the plan again? The answer is simple. We left the plan in the drawer not in our hands. How do you know if your plan will work if you cannot remember it?

A good plan points you in the right direction. But it does more than that. Anthropologist Lionel Tiger of Rutgers University has written that it affects your "mood or attitude" about the future. If you believe that you have a plan that will work, you are more optimistic. Your attitude is more positive.

The late University of Kansas positive psychologist Rick Snyder found in his research that hope is directly connected to the belief that you can achieve your goals. These goals encourage you to do things each day that are important to your future. You create your future by acting today.

Good plans are worth reviewing many times. They guide our actions and behaviors. Take marriage for example. We all know that the divorce rate in this country is about 50%. What about second or third marriages? It's even worse: The divorce rate is 67% for second marriages and 74% for third marriages. Yet probably all of us who walked down the aisle recited the most famous marriage plan ever written: our wedding vows. But most of us have said them only once. Could you imagine if everyone reviewed their vows and remained committed to them every day?

Finally, a plan is not a map; it's a guide. It's a guide to our goals based on what we know today. And when our information changes, we should review our plan and adjust it as needed. Most company leaders treat their plans as if they should be bound in leather, or framed in glass. The most successful leaders instead write all over their plan. They scratch out what is out of date and they scribble in what needs to be added. Then they communicate the changes to everyone who needs to know; they build support for the changes, and ask for help in achieving them.

So keep your plan in your hands not in the drawer. I know Greg would be impressed.

David J. Pollay is a syndicated columnist, and an internationally sought after speaker and teacher on how to build positive momentum in your business and life. Mr. Pollay is the founder and president of The Momentum Project, a training and consulting organization with offices in Delray Beach, Florida and Washington, D.C. Prior to founding The Momentum Project, he held senior leadership positions at Yahoo!, MasterCard, Global Payments, and AIESEC. Mr. Pollay holds a Master's Degree in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and an Economics Degree from Yale University. Email him your stories at david@themomentumproject.com, or call 561.265.1165.