Planning Paradox

Plans are useless, but planning is essential.

Dwight Eisenhower is often attributed as saying: “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”

This is a legendary quote with huge strategic implications, so I'd like to talk about the mental model it teaches: the planning paradox.

Exactly as Eisenhower said, the planning paradox teaches us that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. You'll rarely follow your plan to the letter, but after the fact, you'll always be glad you made one.

Pretty much every BJJ white belt goes through a phase where they decide to “map out their gameplan.” Usually, this entails some gigantic, overcomplicated flowchart.

I'm sure you've made one of these flowcharts at some point! And if you did, you probably stared at your masterpiece after completing it and thought these thoughts:

1. “This was way harder than I thought it would be.”
2. “This is a total mess. It doesn't make any sense.”
3. “Wow, there's a lot I don't know about Jiu-Jitsu.”

Planning exposes your weaknesses.

Right there, you saw the first major benefit of planning: it forces us to ask ourselves the difficult questions. The act of planning makes us consider every angle and ensure we haven't missed anything.

A good planning session is a gut punch to the ego. It forces us to confront the reality of how much we don't yet know. It sets us off on the journey of correcting those weaknesses.

The better you plan, the less likely you will encounter a situation that catches you off guard. Plans are the opposite of surprises.

Planning improves your performance.

Planning isn't just about what-if scenarios. If done right, planning can actually improve your performance.

Planning can be like a form of practice, but for your memory instead of your muscles. The act of planning forces our brains to work and recall old knowledge, and the act of doing so makes those neural pathways stronger.

This is called effortful retrieval: we practice remembering things so it'll be easier to remember them next time.

Plans are preparation, not instructions.

You know what's not a benefit of planning? Actually following the plan.

The real world has so many variables that you simply can't account for everything. In the face of all that chaos, things rarely go according to plan.

You'll likely deviate from your plan, and that's okay. The real value of planning comes not from the plan, but from the act of planning itself.
 

On the podcast:

• Ep. 289: Competition Camps, feat. Lyzz "Daemonette" Mitrovic

Further study:

• Layers of Strategy