Planning

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. - Benjamin Franklin

Shilpa Bhasin Mehra

We know from childhood how important planning is. From our school days, we have a time-table and we pack our school bags according to that. In our house, we have a time for lunch and dinner as well as sleeping. We plan our studies for our examinations. We plan our birthday parties as well as our summer holidays. Then why do we forget the importance of planning as we grow older. The most successful people in the world believed in the concept of planning. Those people were not twiddling their thumbs, nor were they hyper or paranoid, they were simply organized. As it is said, Rome wasn't built in a day. Man has reached the moon and Mt. Everest . It wasn't a coincidence nor did it happen in a day. It was planned. There is a time for discussion and a time for action. What happens often is that the discussions seem to be endless. As a result, many times the purpose of the action is often defeated or it's too late to act. We should definitely discuss the issue at hand, weigh the pros and cons of it and formulate strategies for its success. But within a time frame! For any action, the implemen-tation stage is the most important one. In the words of Dwight D. Eisenhower, General and American President - In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.

Planning is an essential stepping stone to business success. To be effective, planning needs to take place at several levels:

• The strategic level - Here you set the overall direction of your business by mapping out the medium to long-term future of your business.

• The operational level - Planning at this level aims to ensure the day-to-day activities you have identified as being essential to the successful operation of the business.

It is a known fact that any resource that you have in scarcity should be handled with utmost care. A person with a hand to mouth existence values every penny that he has and thinks ten times before spending any money, whereas a rich man can squander money on luxuries without batting an eye lid. Lawyers are extremely busy people, so they handle their time very efficiently, with their grueling schedules and tight deadlines. Nature doesn't give them any extra time, it all has to fit in a day's work. I marvel at the leaders in the legal profession that I have had the fortune of meeting and at their meticulous planning and time management. They could not have reached where they have without this valuable virtue.

Success in any endeavour requires careful preparation and planning. Without proper planning and preparation, failure is almost guaranteed. In sports we see many examples of the need to plan. Often this involves a “game plan”. A game plan is simply a series of steps which the team must follow in order to be able to accomplish its goal of winning the game. In fact, most winning teams are able to win, because they plan to win. Losing teams are often the teams that had no game plan, or a poor plan at best. Failing to plan to win is the same as planning to lose.

I read a quote, “An optimist is the one who can appreciate the scenery even on a detour”. Similarly, I feel lawyers plan their day and activities so well, while the others are complaining about petty things and traffic jams. A drive is often utilized to read the faxes and emails or having a conference on the mobile. A flight is used to read the extensive paperwork or even have a meeting. Their trips abroad to attend the international conferences are planned well in advance keeping in mind the court holidays as well as the pending matters. The clients also value their time and come punctually for the meetings and conferences.

We always have to look at our seniors and learn. Instead of giving the lame excuse that we don't have the time, let's plan to use the 24 hours in a day to our best potential. Losers make excuses, winners make things happen. Einstein and Bill Gates also had only 24 hours in a day, but look at what they have achieved. Planning is the trademark of successful people, be it any field of life. Let us make it ours too. The successful Chandrayaan lunar mission is a masterpiece by the Indian scientists of impeccable precision and planning. The essence of planning is beautifully captured in this observation of Warren Buffet, “ Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”