Planning vs action

I’ve been called many things in my time but Planny Pinfold has cropped up a number of times. Happy to go with the flow most of the time, I do like to know my overall direction and this involves a certain amount of planning. A framework strategy, within which you have plenty of freedom is my ideal. Of course, the strategy does change from time to time but I’m talking generalities here.

In my marketing life, this meant that I varied the tactics according to market pressures, team strengths, what was and wasn’t working well, partner whims (if you’ve worked in professional services, you’ll know) and other external and internal factors, however, the strategy was always there as a guiding hand, keeping me on the straight and narrow towards the goal.

This month has been busy, not only coaching but in my personal life, too. Physically, I’m going to be out of action at the end of October for a few weeks so I’ve been fitting in extra jobs and activities in preparation for that. Planning, see? This has meant getting certain things ready for Christmas! Sorry, using the C word and we’ve not even said au revoir to September yet.

My point is that, while we can make ourselves very stressed by planning and over-planning, forgetting that action is what moves us forward, there is a place for it. Within my framework where the strategy is to get to Christmas (oops the C word again) smoothly and stress-free, I’ve had to plan but the things I’ve been doing have been great fun and have definitely moved me forward. My ideal.

If you’re stymied by over-planning, checking and re-checking the strategy, think about talking to a business coach about the issue. They may help you to unlock all of that action that is behind the floodgates.

Making good use of the tomatoes from the garden that haven’t ripened, green tomato chutney was one of my tactics. Great gifts, too.