Plan.And.Worry

Planning is an important activity in our life, whether it is for our future or for the tasks at work. It provides us with a step-by-step guide to achieve our objectives. However, planning is often being mistaken for worrying and sometimes it is seen as a sign of pessimism or weakness.

"Why do you worry so much?"

Worrying is the recognition of something that may/will happen where the outcome is unknown and no actions can be thought off to influence the outcome. Planning is the recognition of something that may/will happen and proactive preparations were made ahead to influence a positive outcome.

When we worry, most of the time we are aware of a problem but we do not know what to do about it. There could be thoughts of possible outcomes but no actions were made to influence the outcomes. And we all know the saying, "If a problem can be solved, why worry about it? And if a problem cannot be solved, worrying will not solve it."

However, planning should not be mistaken as worrying. When we plan, we identify all possible outcomes and the risks involved in a particular undertaking. Identifying risks isn't a sign of worrying. It is an activity to identify weakpoints that could derail the undertaking and therefore, planned actions can be put in place to mitigate the risks.

"Why plan when things could go wrong?"

In fact, that is the main reason why planning is important - to prevent things from going wrong.
Planning is not just about looking at the favourable outcomes and the positive path. Failure points and alternate paths should also be studied and the actions to handle any undesirable events when they occur should also be considered. This is called a contigency plan.

Remember this by heart, in life or at work, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."