The Art Of Planning: Making Before Taking The Plunge
October 23, 2007 by
Adam
Filed under
Productivity
In a time where most things are becoming quicker to do, to achieve and to receive, many people feel that the internet holds all the answers and can help take your life from the dark ages into a new age of instant gratification.
If you think that what I just said does not hold true, do a quick search for “make quick money” on our favourite search engine and take a quick peak at those 60 million results.
As you can see, some false hope has been sprayed around and people are beginning to think that the internet is the next gateway to 24 hour riches.
Whilst the aim of this post isn’t to slander every single Get Rich Quick Scheme out there, I wanted to focus on a method that could actually help you to develop not only income, but success, branding, marketing, content creation much more quickly than before (but still not overnight either).
And I think you’ve heard this buzzword before. The name of the game is planning.
What Are The Benefits Of Planning?
Some talented individuals always make plans before starting anything new including a new website or internet business or before doing something as simple (or not) as a Wordpress upgrade. These people make sure they know every single step in detail before actually undertaking the project, even though this might cost them 5-10 minutes of their time.
For those skeptics who never plan, here’s a few reasons why you should:
- The human memory isn’t bulletproof. I often forget things half-way through a task and try and rack my brains to search for the thing I was thinking about. By writing or typing a plan, you make sure that you don’t leave out an important part of the procedure, which could end up costing you more time in the longrun.
- Allow ideas to brew. This point is especially useful in content creation. By jotting down a plan of your next blog post, you can let your ideas brew, and don’t have the pressure of trying to write a post on the spur of the moment, something that guarantees a lack of quality.
- Be more productive. Whilst planning takes up some of the precious “action time”, in the longrun, it can actually help you to organize your activities and to make sure you perform the most useful activites whilst you’re in the groove. Leo Babauta always mentions making a plan before undertaking any task, so you should too.
How Do I Make My Plan?
Once you’ve decided that planning really is necessary before you take the plunge, then the next step would be to decide how you are going to make that plan. In the world today, there are 2 places where you can write down pre-thoughts; on a screen or on a piece of paper.
It’s up to you which one you use, I myself personally prefer jotting things down in my roughbook (which you’ll be able to see below). The advantages of doing this, is that you get to step away from the screen a bit (which in turn uses less power), but at the same time, you’re using paper. So from an environmental perspective, you’re doomed both ways. Find out whichever one works for you - experiment a little.
Once you’ve decided upon the medium, it’s time to decide upon the method. Here are a few methods that I’ve used in the past:
- 1. Spider Diagrams - the picture you can see above is of a plan for an upcoming guest post on a Top 10 blog. This method was great, as it allowed me to link factors together, to continually add on top of the ideas I had already formed for the post, and it inevitably led me to realize that I could put together a great series, instead of a single post.
- 2. The Simple List - ideal for planning events or continuous steps (again great for Wordpress Upgrades). Planning this will help you get rid of uncertainty and will make sure you carry out the task in the quickest time possible. This technique is great also for creating social media linkbait.
- 3. Flowcharts - again a flowchart can be awesome for planning an event or for detailing your workday. These can also be more visually attractive, helping to detract from that boring, planning experience.
Again, I’ve only detailed a few pieces of opinion here, but the key here is to continually trial and improve upon your planning techniques.
Once you’ve mastered the art of planning, not only will your productivity shoot up, but you’ll be left with more time to focus on aspects of your website, blog or company that are lagging behind and which are causing you to lose potential gains. Patching up these leaks will guide you to success; sooner rather than later.
Planning is very important.
I don’t know how many times I have planned something (but not all the way) and launched myself into it, without realizing the full implications. The results are a half finished product and a lot of wasted time.
Nice post!
I have to agree. So many people just jump into things, myself included. Planning give you the chance to see any problems that you may not have noticed.
I have an obsession with writing lists I think! I constantly write a new one (an on screen one just doesn’t cut it with me for some reason). To me writing a list helps you relax as you know everything you need to do is on paper and you no longer need it going round in your mind. It’s also good motivation as you cross off each step/task as it’s done.
I do this for work that needs doing for business as well as my own sites. Plus the more you write out the more you think things through and the more you probably think of!
That is my biggest problem, I just go with it and never plan. Even though I know I should
One can’t say it enough. Planning is everything
Actually, I don’t plan much, but I plan on doing some planning soon.
I think that writing it down on paper allows you to be more free in creating your plan. You can easily write things down, connect them with some arrows. If you have to do that on screen, it takes way more time.
A great post, congratulations! Definately I am agree on the importance of planning being an expert in strategical planning:) Everything starts with a planning step what ever it is if the one wish to be successful. Will be back again rite here to read older writings. Thank you for letting me visit. Nihal in Istanbul
I have always been somebody who loves to plan but in the past I have wasted a lot of time due to trying to plan too far ahead or in too much detail up front.
What I find now is that things change so very quickly so I need to be able to adapt my plans. If I have longer term goals, I keep it brief, I don’t spend hours trying to figure out how to achieve it now because all sorts of new ideas may come my way in the future.
Instead I focus on now - this month, this week, today. I look at my goals and just plan my most immediate time ahead of me.
I agree with you. Planning can help you to get more productive and in the long run, might even make or break you. Planning out your posts before writing them is of paramount importance. My best posts till date were all pre-planned before I began writing them. Just jot down the main points and that’s it!
By the way, thanks for the diagram tip. I never though about writing on paper. I always write on my PC but sometimes, especially with a post series or a huge post, it’s just better to put it down in the form of a diagram.
Have you thought about using mind mapping software to digitize your thoughts? Some of the software is free online while you can purchase others for more robust planning - like exporting to Microsoft Project or importing docs. I used them in the past (Mind Manager), but found I’m more linear vs. visual like your spider diagram.
(mind mapping software) What will they think of next, how to implement it for you as well.
Very nice post. Planning is very necessary in every thing that we do. Even a holiday should be well planned for it’s travel, hotel booking, etc. I always plan my next day on the previous night, I write a to do which needs to be done the next day, so the next day is much more organized and I know what I need to do as soon as I get up in the morning.
I just want to say … planning is the heart of management and improvement.
Wow this is a really cool idea to do the write down on paper. I can see how you can really add to your original thoughts.
Planning is one of the most easiest but poorly done things ever in this world. I know that from fact.
I agree Publishers Weblog. We need to learn how to plan everything in life for a better life.
Absolutely right. With the ease to market on the Internet people are quick to jump at something without taking it a serious venture and fail. If they plan it and approach it like a tradition business venture they are more likely to make something of it.
Great article.
Hey Adnan,
One thing that I’ve learned about the internet is it’s all about marketing and “packaging”. Even more so than most offline businesses are.
It’s a good strategy to spend 50% of your planning and execution on the product and a solid 50% on the whole concept-marketing-packaging of it all.
Hey Shane I totally agree with you. Well not only internet all the businesses is all about “packaging”. If the packing is beautiful and hep then your product can sell at any price.
Hey guys - sorry for not responding to these comments quickly this time - I’ve been pretty busy behind the scenes with yet another announcement which you should hear shortly.
Thanks to those who responded with their insights into planning - I’m writing a few Economics essays at the moment, and my trusted scrapbook has come into action yet again with detailed plans - so I’d really recommend you make one of anything you plan to do - whether it be future blog posts, changes in advertising or monetization options.
And thanks to everyone who linked this article up - it got some great love on StumbleUpon!
plan, plan and plan. we got to this. me myself still has some kind of trouble doing it even i know the importance of it. have to remind myself always. hope i will listen to me.
Hey long time no new posts.
Where are you ??
hey adnan..
nice post.. and I guess a valuable tool kit for anyone .. planning i mean
but personally I think there s this certain charm to doing things instinctively and on impulse.. and some people i feel are comfortable doing it that way and also usually take their best decisions in such times..
I guess one can try a middle path of a planned approach and instinctive execution.. jus my 2 cents..
Your post has all the advice I need, alot of which I’ve known for a while but have not been able to consistently implement to reach the success I’m looking for. I’ve been reading Getting Things Done by David Allen which has given me great insight into why I fail to commit to a thorough planning routine. I think it’s got to do with being impatient. Anything that takes too long to do I drop, any advice for the impatient amougst us on how to keep a long term focus and consistent effort?
very good read and useful for anyone. I actually wrote an article on setting your goals which kind of ties in with this, but it is a much broader topic. Anyways, I really enjoyed the write up and will be back for more.
nice blog. first time on here. good old brainstorming with pen and paper. still the best way to plan
Excellent points! People really think they can just create a blog to make a quick buck these days, but it’s not as simple as it looks. That is why I created my blog and the reason is because of blogs charging for certain things to make the “quick buck”. It brings the standards up and us newbies can’t even blog for fun.
-Mike
I have added you to my daily reading list
Your posts are so interesting.
-Mike
Planning is all well and good, but implementing the plan is where a lot of folks fall short. It is in the doing that success is made possible. I have designed a calendar product based on “Getting Things Done” principles that can help you plan AND do. A lot of people have found it useful.
Yes, planning is important. I also like using flow charts & mindmaps.
Planning is good, yes, but we must also listen to our inner intuition and see whether our direction is good or not…this is far more valuable than planning, because if we can really ascertain a good direction, then planning will sort of take care of itself on the “right” path.
I agree, planning is like a foundation to the building.
In a time where most things are becoming quicker to do, to achieve and to receive, many people feel that the internet holds all the answers and can help take your life from the dark ages into a new age of instant gratification. Some talented individuals always make plans before starting anything new in “slowly but surely” approach. Planning before taking a plunge is very important or otherwise failure will follow. Be wise and quick!