Posts by Pat:
Do You Need a Plan B? Part 2
Last week we looked at the potential need for a Plan B-the reasons for it and its advantages.
After all, from an early age our parents taught us we need other options available in case our wishes don’t work out the way we want.
At Christmas we youngsters were told to make a list of presents because our first choice was not always available!
Most left-brained folks have a backup plan,
a plan B (and/or C?) in mind. Maybe it’s in our DNA?
And it’s those creative right-brained folks who often choose to “wing it” or go with the flow just to see what comes up.
Oops! What happens when we realize that we are using both parts of our brain?
- Does one side win?
- Or do we just go wishy-washy?
Like me, I’ll bet you have been on both sides of the fence; sometimes with a Plan B and sometimes without one!
For example, in an article in Success Magazine, Patrick Allmond points out that if you are an entrepreneur, having a backup plan…
- can be to your disadvantage;
- that it can remove your drive to succeed;
- that a Plan B can take energy and money away from Plan A.
As Fay commented on last week’s blog, Part 1,
Having a Plan B when starting on the Plan A could be seen from either a ‘great fall-back’ plan or an ‘I don’t have to give Plan A full throttle since something else is ready’.
Having been an entrepreneur (with a bookstore, a chocolate store and then as an independent contractor called “Realtor”) I can see both sides.
And in a marriage, unless you commit 100% to it as your Plan A, you may well find yourself divorced!
If you have a Plan B parachute ready and waiting for you, you may find yourself tempted to use it.
So does your “Plan B’ mean you are sensible or does it mean you are in fact holding a negative outlook?
Is it possible to be fully committed to your positive intent and visualization if you also have a Plan B?
Perhaps having a backup plan will give you the peace of mind that is important to you. And if Plan B is not necessary, that’s great too!
You can still ask yourself what might get in your way of taking a particular action and what can you do to take that into account. (And call that Plan B)
Once you know all your options, you may feel freer and more liberated to focus your time, energy and intentions on the outcome you desire.
So is a Plan B being negative? Losing faith in your Plan A?
I don’t think so. I saw a fridge magnet which said
“over prepare then go with the flow”
Life is full of surprises. Whatever helps us make room for the mysteries of life, and its timing, is probably the most ‘positive’ kind of thinking. By having a plan we are opening a physical and energetic path for the momentum of our goal/vision to travel.
However, this doesn’t ensure we will reach our vision in the way we planned it. There are many paths to achievement and the plan opens the door, it is not necessarily the ‘only way’.
Maybe it’s just allowing a space for which ever path our vision chooses to travel in reaching its destination.
What do you think?
Do You Need a Plan B? Part 1
You usually have a pretty good Plan A. But do things always go the way you plan? Or does your day get completely out of hand? Our goals, our to-do lists, even our visions and mapped out paths are more often than not in danger of surprises. As you became an adult, did you know you […]
Thoughts for the end of summer
We seem to like beginnings and endings. Letting go of “summer” and preparing for “fall” gives us a clean slate so we can choose anew the mantras we want to embody! Pick yours! […]
QUARTZ, PARCHMENT, SHEARS..?
Or, more familiarly, “Rock Paper Scissors!” Do you remember as a child settling disputes (such as who would be ‘it’) by playing this simple game? It’s a time-honored, important decision making game, right up there with flipping a coin, drawing straws and throwing dice! And how do you settle those questions of who goes first, […]
“We” Invented Hot Blue?
Hot blue, sadly, is not born of the natural world. There are no hot-blue vegetables or flowers, no hot-blue fruits or whole grains. Actually, there is no actual blue food. Even blueberries are actually purple! I don’t know why they are called “blueberries” but they are purple. (There are indigo purplish-blue fruits though.) And scientifically […]
Think on these stories…
Don’t be like the man who joined a monastery in which the monks were allowed to speak only two words every seven years. After the first seven years had passed, the new initiate met with the abbot, who asked him, “Well, what are your two words?” “Food’s bad,” replied the man, who then went back […]
Quotes for July
There are always So many ideas… So many thoughts… So many feelings… So many quotes! I love deciding each month which eight quotes I’ll post. I certainly accumulate them faster than I post them! Do you have any new favorites? (I’m always happy when folks share their favorites with me!) […]
Scratch Your Head Over These!
Ever wondered why some of these sayings don’t seem to really make sense? And how about plastic glass, a definite maybe, or military intelligence! Each of these is called an oxymoron. A dictionary defines them as “a combination of contradictory or incongruous words.” Still another dictionary defines an oxymoron as a “wittily paradoxical turn of […]
Is Your To-Do List Ruining Your Life?
There was an interesting article that suggested that to-do lists don’t work, that they make folks so stressed that they die an early death! (okay, that’s a little over the top) But because I’ve always done to-do lists, it certainly raised some questions in my mind. One of the reasons they don’t work well, that I […]
Four Words You Can Say to Jerks
The four words are simple, they are easy, and they are not that fancy. Whenever someone is being a “jerk” you can say “You might be right.” This accomplishes a few things: It admits that maybe they are right. You make mistakes. Maybe you did something wrong. Could this person have brought it up […]
