The Perfect Plan Is Keeping You Stuck

(Transcript edited for clarity.)

Hi, I'm Wes. Welcome to The Perfect Plan Is Keeping You Stuck, or phrased a different way, Stop Waiting for the Perfect Plan. Today's episode is mostly about taking action and not overthinking or overcomplicating a plan.

So the question that I want you to think about as you go through today's episode is: Do you need a better plan, or do you need to start testing the plan you already have?

It's very easy when you start thinking in systems or plans - plans and systems are pretty much interchangeable for today's conversation - when you're making a plan or you're making a system and you want to make it the perfect plan before you get started. But that also can keep you from ever getting started so that you'll never get the results that you want.

So really, the wake-up call today is don't focus so much on getting everything perfect before you get started because there is no such thing as perfect before you get started. And some things you can't possibly learn until you get started.

So keep that question in mind as we're going through today, and hopefully this can get you unstuck or keep you from getting stuck the next time you develop a system or a plan so you can get into action and start getting feedback quicker.

A plan cannot be perfected with information you can only get after starting. And that's something I've already mentioned.

So many things that you try to accomplish, goals, plans you put together, systems for your life or your business or whatever you're working on, you can't possibly have all the information you need until you start putting the plan in action.

There's some things you just can't learn until you experience them or do them.

Now, if you're doing something that's similar to something you've done in the past, of course you can learn from the things you've done in the past to help make your plan better. But there's usually something different or something slightly changed when you move from one thing to the other.

And of course, most of the time, or a lot of the times, the plans or the systems we're working on are for a new situation. And especially in a new situation, the entire plan can't possibly be perfected because you don't have all the information.

Some information only comes to you, or is created for you to use, access, evaluate, and adjust to, after you start taking action.

Planning reduces uncertainty. It does, and that's the best thing about planning. But even though planning reduces uncertainty, it cannot remove all uncertainty.

And if you're not careful, you'll fall into the trap of worrying too much about trying to perfect everything before you get started that you never get started.

Perfectionism often disguises itself as responsible preparation. It seems responsible to plan, try to get the perfect plan, try to get all your ducks in a row before you get started.

It seems productive. It seems responsible. But you've got to figure out when the time is to stop trying to perfect something that you can't possibly perfect yet, and it's time to start going into action so you can start getting feedback.

Define the minimum information and put safeguards in place that you need before taking the first step.

Oftentimes I'll talk about when you create a system or a goal plan, and I'll talk about trying to figure out what the first smallest step is that you need to take and then take that step. You don't need to know step 74 before you take the first step.

Now, you do need to do as much preparation as you can. You need to be smart. I mentioned guardrails.

You need to put guardrails or safety things in to make sure you don't get too far off track if you make a mistake or if something doesn't go as planned.

You don't want to get to step 73 before you figure out step 1 or step 2 was wrong and put you in the completely wrong direction.

I learned this probably close to 20 years ago when I first started building websites. I built a website and it got bigger, and I kept adding more content and more content, and it was very disorganized because I didn't know what I didn't know before I started.

Then I saw how disorganized it was, and I learned from that. So the next time I built a website, I went into it and I started the plan with an organizational structure, which is a very simple thing now looking back at it, but I didn't know it the first time I got started.

So that's an example. I don't think I had access to that information anywhere when I got started on those early websites.

There were other websites, but most of them weren't very big. They weren't very organized. And the ones that were organized, I wasn't smart enough or I didn't know enough yet to realize how important the organizational structure was.

The organizational structure helped me as the owner and the person who ran the website, but more importantly, if a website's organized correctly, it helps the end user. It helps them find things. It helps them stay within the flow of the website. It's just a better user experience.

So not only did it help me, it also helped the end user, which in turn helped me to make more money. It became more profitable.

But the point for our example here is I didn't know what to even consider until I put it into action and I learned.

Then when I learned it, I started correcting, and in the future I used that information to do better. So I knew on the next website I built that I needed to start planning the structure of the site at the beginning, and then as it grew out and got bigger, I was able to keep the structure in a more user-friendly way.

Use action as a test, then adjust the plan with real feedback.

I used to make this mistake a lot. I'd go in, I'd create a system or a plan, and I'd get started. Then if something didn't work, I would feel bad about it and I'd say, well, I messed that up. It was a terrible mistake. Oh my, this is the end of the world.

But it wasn't. And the difference was, now I've learned that most things I do, especially early in plans after I start taking action, early in systems when I start taking action, I look at them as tests.

I still look at them as steps, but each step is a test instead of each step being a make-or-break, do-or-die thing. Oh, if this fails, it's terrible.

Because if you break your systems or your plans into small enough steps, then if one fails, it's a test. You're going to test the next step, and if it doesn't work, then you only have one small step to correct and you've got feedback now from the small test step that didn't work.

So you break them down into the smallest steps possible and look at them as tests.

And now sometimes I've learned that there might be more than one option. Because I understand testing and feedback and adjusting, sometimes I will purposely or intentionally run two or three tests if I'm not sure about the next step.

There might be, say, three options for the next step. If I can do them quickly enough, inexpensively enough, I might test all three things quickly to figure out which one works best instead of testing one and then going back and testing the second, and if those don't work, going back and testing the third.

Sometimes it's possible to inexpensively and quickly test two or three things at the same time or very quickly. And if that's your plan, then it's not a failure.

Every test either works or provides you valuable feedback to make the next test better.

A good plan that starts is more useful than a perfect plan that never gets started or never leaves the written page if you're working out a plan.

So let's think about this. Let's say you can spend two months getting the absolute perfect plan in place, or you can spend a week getting a plan that's 90 percent perfect in place and get started.

If you go ahead and spend the week and understand that you're only probably 90 percent efficient, but understand that you're going to test variables and test things, and every step you make or complete is a test and you're going to learn along the way, you're going to be much further ahead within two months than if you'd worked on trying to perfect things for two months before getting started.

The feedback you get is more valuable than more research once you reach a certain point.

Now, the key here, the secret, is figuring out when you have enough to get started.

So let's go back to the question. The question was: Do you need a better plan, or do you need to start testing the plan that you already have?

Usually, by the time you get to the point where you can ask that question, that means it's time to get started.

And the way I get through this usually now is, even if I have a huge project that I need a huge plan or a huge system to complete the whole thing, I realize that if I can break it down into enough small steps, each small step is going to be more valuable than trying to figure out all the perfection and get everything perfect down the road.

So don't focus on getting the perfect plan. Focus on getting your plan good enough so you can test the next small step.

This is Wes, Your Life Systems. Please like and subscribe, and good luck with your plans.

What's Next?

·        Choose one plan you may be overworking instead of testing.

·        Identify the minimum information you actually need before taking the next step.

·        Add any reasonable guardrails that keep a small mistake from becoming a large one.

·        Break the next action into a small test that can produce useful feedback quickly.

·        Evaluate the result and adjust the plan instead of judging the entire project.

·        Ask whether more research will change the next decision. If not, start testing.

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