Planning and Preparation works best for people who have goals. As said in an earlier chapter, we can have goals in the different realms of our life, like financial, health, professional, spiritual and developmental. In order to reach out to the SMART goals we have set in these different realms, we need to have an action plan. We should not only have an action plan but also make relevant and meaningful preparation to execute the plan or road map to our goal or destination.

Say for example, in order to achieve one’s career, not only does he have to set a goal and plan his route map to his career, but also needs to have plans and preparations for his educations and the arrangement of finances to support his higher education and coaching. Hence, the fuel for success would definitely be the planning and preparations being made and the execution of the same without fail.

What does planning and preparation bring in to our life?

1.  Lets us see the big picture
2. Know our priorities
3. Brings in focus
4. Identify resources or essentials
5. Connect the dots
6. Utilize time effectively
7. Overcome uncertainty
8. Promotes growth.

Story

A fascinating story which brings this point to life is the race to the South Pole in 1911 between the successful expedition led by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and the failed one led by Robert Falcon Scott.

On paper, it was a perfectly matched competition: Amundsen and Scott were of similar ages, and each could boast plenty of experience in daring polar exploration. They set off within days of each other, and it was reasonable to assume they might arrive simultaneously; such was their mutual reputation. But that’s not what happened at all.

Before I continue, let’s consider some of the hardships they would face: gale-force winds, temperatures of -20F, even during the warmest months, and a round-trip journey of more than 1,400 miles. That would be a serious challenge today, even with all our modern equipment and expertise; it’s hard to comprehend how much harder it was in 1911.

Amundsen had been preparing for years, however. He adopted an intensive and long-term fitness regimen. When he travelled more than 2,000 miles from Norway to Spain to earn a master’s certificate in sailing, he didn’t go by ship or train, but by bicycle. He planned for scenarios he might only face once in a lifetime, such as testing the usefulness of raw dolphin as a source of nutrition. He studied the Inuit people in the north of Canada and discovered how it was better to move slowly in cold conditions so sweat couldn’t form and turn to ice. He was 39 when he set off on his journey to the South Pole, but he had already been on a quest to personal mastery from a tender age.

Scott’s preparation paled in comparison, and significant differences in their planning emerged

1. Amundsen learned that dogs thrive in Antarctic conditions and spent time with the Inuit people in the north of Canada to learn to dogsled. Scott selected a mixture of ponies, which are entirely unsuited to Antarctic conditions and motor sledges, which were brand new, untested, and quickly failed. The result, while the Amundsen party ran their teams of dogs to the pole and back, the men on Scott’s team had to pull their sledges themselves, moving far more slowly and exhausting themselves along the way.

2. Amundsen laid down supply caches along the route and marked them with black flags so they would be visible for miles on their way back. Scott did not.

3. Amundsen stored three tons of supplies for five men starting out. Scott stored one ton for 17 men.

4. Amundsen carried enough extra supplies that he would be able to miss every one of his stock supplies and still complete the journey. If Scott missed even one of his stock supplies, it would be the end for him and his team.

5. Amundsen brought four thermometers. Scott brought one, which broke.

6. While both men knew there was no way to remove all of the risks, Amundsen prepared for the very worst weather, unexpected geographical challenges and other hurdles, where Scott appears to have operated in the hope that everything would work out all right. In his journal, discovered with his frozen body years later, Scott complained about his bad luck.

On 15 December 1911, Amundsen and his team planted the Norwegian flag in the South Pole. It would probably have stunned him to know that the Scott expedition was still 360 miles from the pole, man-hauling their sledges and would take another 34 days to get there. By the time they did, the Amundsen team was just eight days from their home base. They reached it precisely on the day they planned.

Amundsen was already sailing back to Norway when Scott’s team finally gave up hope, exhausted, depressed, frostbitten, and near starvation. Their frozen bodies were discovered in a tent, eight months later. It’s a tragic tale for those brave men, but it’s also a cautionary tale. If Amundsen had reviewed Scott’s plans before he set out, he would probably have urged him not to go at all.

Six fundamentals of planning

In this story, the fundamentals of planning are brought home.

• Scott set himself up for failure. Amundsen set himself up for success.

• Amundsen’s planning was future-proofed, through ‘what if’ scenarios with a plan B, C, and D (remember the saying there are 25 other letters in the alphabet if plan A fails).

• Improvements, growth and success need direction and a sense of purpose. They won’t happen on their own.

• A clear roadmap forces accountability and responsibility, which sometimes may lead to a change in route. This is OK. Accept this and follow your new path.

• Risks can be turned into opportunities, but you need to have identified them as risks first, otherwise, they’ll come at you as a crisis, and then you’re on the back foot.

• The ‘weight’ of a decision is reduced when you’ve had time to consider and calculate it’s upside and downside. 

• For Scott and Amundsen, their results were aligned directly to the quality of their planning.

Activity

Write down your plan and preparations that can leave you as a postgraduate

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Quote

“An hour of planning can save you 10 hours of doing.” —Dale Carnegie

Takeaways

1. Have SMART goals and plan and prepare to reach out to those goals.
2. The fuel for success would definitely be the planning and preparations being made and the execution of the same without fail.