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?
3 Comments
My first part of Plan B in response to a Plan A – is too take a deep breath and just pause for a moment. What has just happened is over, think it over a bit before you respond. You can’t get the past back but you can carefully plan your response (or no response at all).
Once made, your reply can’t be erased either. Hold back on a response made too quickly. Pause, deep breath, relax, take the time – then do/say something or nothing. Take action or none at all. Take the time to reply – that is my best early part of any plan B.
Earl said it all so well. I agree wholeheartedly! Sometimes we panic and jump into a plan B when we need to pause, take a deep breath, relax, and then either do or don’t!
Earl and Tish! Breathing, taking time, reflecting and then deciding our response means we have the opportunity to make the best possible decision!