People who have been reading my previous blogs may get a bit surprised by this Title. We spoke about little and subtle things in life, about virtue and happiness, and materilaism (to that effect making money) probably had some discouragement even. This post is probably due the effect of the holidays!
Kidding aside, in my last blog, I wanted to explore Thiruvallur's take on Forethought. Here it comes, Thiruvalluvar's take on "Proper planning" - and its importance before emabarking on executing a mission.
These days, due to the rapidly changing business environment and hyper competition, we are often pressurised to deliver faster and beat others at the market place, adapt and take advantage. With this becoming an increasing trend and is as much required, many times we do not meet with success in our endeavours. Why is that we feel that there is always something that is undone?
One of the reasons probably we have forgotten the old adage “well planned is half done.” What we often fail to see is
that planning is part of the work to be accomplished. "No time to plan, we need to deliver!,” or “Things change too much to plan!” or "Too small, planning is an overkill!" are some very common comments heard these days.
The take of Thiruvallur is that Planning is an integral part of success. This is Kural 468 from his 47th chapter dedicated to Right Forethought.
The take of Thiruvallur is that Planning is an integral part of success. This is Kural 468 from his 47th chapter dedicated to Right Forethought.
Aatrin varundhaa varutham palarninru
Poatrinum poathup padum
Poatrinum poathup padum
A work done, not based on thorough planning will fail even if supported by large numbers
The energy and effort spent on action, without adequate prior planning, will not produce the desired results, even if a large man-power is deployed in the field during the implementation.
Without a well thought-out plan of action, no venture will succeed, even if supported by considerable strength deployed all round, in quality and quantity.
Heuristically it is stated that for every 1 minute spent on planning, 10 minutes of execution time gets saved. In this busy, hustle-bustle age, time is luxury and saving time leads to making money!
Planning helps in the clarification of goals, assigning roles and responsibilities, estimating work and duration to accomplish the work successfully. More importantly it helps identify and prepare for risks, gives us a reality check; to state briefy Planing will help us avoid cut a sorry picture in the future.
Benjamin Franklin, one of the greatest statesmen and inventor said,
"By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail"
Abraham Lincoln reportedly once said, “If I had 60 minutes to cut down a tree, I would spend 40 minutes sharpening the axe and 20 minutes cutting it down.”
Another similar story from Dale Carnegie, Two men were out chopping wood. One man worked hard all day, took no breaks, and only stopped briefly for lunch. The other chopper took several breaks during the day and even a short nap at lunch. At the end of the day, the woodman who had taken no breaks was quite disturbed to see that the other chopper had cut more wood than he had. He said, “I don’t understand. Every time I looked around, you were sitting down, yet you cut more wood than I did.” His companion asked, “Did you also notice that while I was sitting down, I was sharpening my axe?”
Planning is as much applicable to professional lives as it is for personal lives. if you have time go through Stephen Covey's "Sharpen your Saw" and "Begin with the end in mind", where you can see the effect of planning on developing oneself, on both fronts.
Cheers until we meet next.
