On Situational Strategy

​As an incorrigible planner, I’ve wasted a lot of time and effort in the past by stubbornly sticking to a plan. After all, it was the plan.

Through trial and error, a whole lot of error, I’ve learned that a plan is good, but by no means set in stone. The situation may (will) change and so the strategy going forward will have to as well. I cannot let the plan serve as blinders.

Mike has always been good at this. We once found ourselves stranded at an airport in Italy. Sudden snow grounded all flights. There were thousands of distraught passengers in the airport, while airline representatives slowly retreated from the frustrated crowd. There was nothing they could do.

I would have waited in that airport for days. Because the plan was to take a flight from that airport. I could see no other option than to remain there until the planes were once again flying and we could pick up where we’d stalled.

That would have been a really stupid idea.

See how the plan was blinding me? Keeping me from strategizing to the situation?

Eventually Mike convinced me that there was no point in remaining there. We took a bus to a train to another train to another train, from Milan to Vienna to Prague.

It was a hellish trip in cramped quarters. At one point we shared a compartment with a man who reeked of booze and body odor. Not just garden-variety body odor. It was nuanced. Notes of armpit… a hint of feet.

Despite the discomfort, it was movement in the right direction. We got where we needed to go instead of remaining stagnant at the airport, waiting on outside forces to make our plans happen.

When I get mired in thinking I need to stick to the plan, or waiting on someone else to complete their part of the puzzle, I remind myself of that trip and regain control.

A plan is a great guideline, but situations change, and it’s important to be able to strategize so that the plan can change accordingly. Otherwise, I might miss out on the greater goal, all because I’m still stuck waiting at the airport.