Failing To Plan IS PLANNING TO FAIL

Failing to plan is planning to fail.” This quote is attributed to Benjamin Franklin and is a clever and lasting summation of the importance of having a plan of attack for just about everything we do. In fact, the idea is the subject of parables from The Bible, Aesop’s Fables and has been expounded upon on by other great historical figures like Abraham Lincoln.

 Take the Aesop’s Fable “The Fox and the Cat”:

A Fox was boasting to a Cat of its clever devices for escaping its enemies.
“I have a whole bag of tricks,” he said, “which contains a hundred ways of escaping my enemies.”
“I have only one,” said the Cat; “but I can generally manage with that.”
Just at that moment they heard the cry of a pack of hounds coming towards them, and the Cat immediately scampered up a tree and hid herself in the boughs.
“This is my plan,” said the Cat. “What are you going to do?”
The Fox thought first of one way, then of another, and while he was debating the hounds came nearer and nearer, and at last the Fox in his confusion was caught up by the hounds and soon killed by the huntsmen.
The Moral: Better to have one proven way than a hundred you cannot rely on.
Or how about Aesop’s “The Ants and the Grasshopper”:
The Ants were spending a fine winter’s day drying grain collected in the summertime. A Grasshopper, dying from hunger, passed by and earnestly begged for a little food.
The Ants asked him, “Why did you not store up food during the summer?”
He replied, “I didn’t have enough time. I passed the days in singing.”
They then said in derision: “If you were foolish enough to sing all the summer, you must dance supperless to bed in the winter.”
Moral: Plan ahead or don’t be surprised when things don’t work out.

Article Reference: Quality Magazine