Planning and Plans - A Key to Success

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Summary of Dennis Guzik's Podcast on Planning

Hi folks, I'm Dennis Guzik, the old jarhead, here to give you great career advice to help you progress in your career. Today, we're discussing the importance of planning and how it can be a key to your success.

Key Points:

• Planning is essential for complex tasks that can't be handled instinctively. Simple tasks like making a ham sandwich don't require a plan, but hosting a large dinner does.
• In the Marine Corps, Dennis learned structured planning as a war planner, helping to deal with potential threats to the US.
• When to plan: You need a plan when the task is too complex to wing it.

Components of a Simple Plan:

1. Tasks (Scope): Identify what needs to be done.
2. Timeline (Schedule): Ensure there's enough time to complete tasks or adjust as needed.
3. Resources (Budget): Make sure you can afford to do what you plan.

Example of a Dinner Plan:

• Tasks: Shopping, cooking, serving.
• Timeline: Shopping the day before, cooking in order to finish all components simultaneously.
• Resources: Budget for the meal.

Benefits of Planning:

1. Clarifies complexity: Planning forces you to think through a task, revealing its true complexity.
2. Adaptability: A plan allows you to adapt to changes and request necessary resources from your boss.
3. Guidance for others: Having a plan helps guide the actions of others involved, increasing the likelihood of success.

Additional Insights:

• Primary and implied tasks: Identify primary tasks and any additional tasks they imply (e.g., making a menu, prepping food, setting the table).
• Timeline organization: Spread out tasks if you're working alone and ensure they align with deadlines.
• Resource management: Cost out each required item and adjust if necessary.

Final Thoughts:

• Plan to succeed: "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." Planning is crucial for career success.
• Further reading: Check out Dennis's book, "Find a Job that Fits Your Life," for more on planning in your career.

Call to Action: Take Dennis's advice, make a plan, and watch your career thrive. Thanks for listening

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi folks.
Well, I'm Dennis Guzik and I'mthe old jarhead, and I am here
to give you great career advice,advice that's guaranteed to
help you as you progress throughthat great career that you're
having.
And part of the reason you'rehaving a great career is that
you listen to my podcast.
So keep listening, tell yourfriends and let's get going.

(00:25):
So today I'm going to talkabout planning and plans right
as a key to your success.
So I got to make an admission.
I got to confess I am a planner.
I enjoy it.
I enjoy thinking through aproblem and then I feel a need

(00:47):
to make a plan, but it's justwing it.
My only exception is whentraveling.
I like to be spontaneous andchange course and go see things
that I hadn't planned on, butbesides that, I like to have a
plan.
I've always been that way, butI learned a lot more about the
structured way of planning whileI was in my beloved Marine

(01:08):
Corps.
In the Marine Corps, I was a warplanner.
What does that mean?
Well, the US National Commandauthorities developed what they
think are threats to the US thatnecessitate not good at English
having a way to deal with them.
This gets pushed down to theservices, and that's where I
came in For one of those threats.

(01:30):
I was one of several MarineCorps planners, so learned a lot
about planning there and I'mgoing to try to help you out
with this as we go through.
I want to break this down alittle bit for you here.
Okay, first is when you need aplan and what needs to be in
that plan.
I think you need a plan eitheron paper or in your noggin, when

(01:55):
the task is too complex to justgo by and do based on your
instincts.
For example, if you need tomake a ham sandwich, you
probably do not need a plan.
If you do, you're probably aknucklehead.
You know what.
All you need to do is put theham on the bread and eat it.

(02:16):
It's natural.
But what if you're going tohost a large dinner?
You got a bunch of peoplecoming over.
You probably should have a planto make sure that dinner is a
success.
But what should a simple planconsist of?
Okay, easy, first.
What needs to get done, whenand how do you resource it?

(02:40):
That's what's in a basic planthe what are the tasks In
project management.
That's called scope.
Then you need to put it on atimeline to make you think
through whether or not you haveenough time to finish those
tasks, or if you have to adjusteither your tasks or your
timeline.
And finally, in its mostsimplest form, resources usually

(03:04):
means budget.
That ensures you can afford todo what you plan to do.
So, using our example of adinner right, your tasks might
be go shopping, cook food andserve.
It Sounds pretty simple.
The timeline might includeshopping the day before, cooking
the food in an order that makesall the components of that meal

(03:26):
finish at the same time, andthe resources is your budget for
the meal Simple stuff.
Next, let's talk about the actof planning.
Ok, and we'll continue on alittle bit with that dinner
thing there.
So now you know when you shouldplan and what's in your plan.
So let's talk about first thetasks or, in PMP language, the

(03:48):
scope.
The key to getting this right isto take all the major things
that you need to get done Okay,the primary tasks and think
about what those tasks alsoimply need to get done.
So, in our simple example, yoursimple tasks were cook, serve,
shop, cook and serve.
Well, what other things mightyou have to do?

(04:10):
Well, how about making a menubefore you go shopping?
How about prepping the foodbefore you cook and how about
setting the table before youserve.
Each one of those implied tasksare necessary and take time,
and if they're not accounted for, you can find your plan falling
apart.
So then you take those tasksthe primary and applied tasks

(04:32):
and you put them on a timelineand you find out whether you
have the tasks that you need andare they in the order.
Some have to happen at the sametime and some overlap.
If you're only one person, youneed to spread them out.
It also shows you whether youcan get the job done by the
deadline you set, which, for ourexample, is when that great
meal you bought and cooked is tobe served.

(04:54):
And finally, is the resources.
In our simple example, you needto cost each thing you need to
purchase.
If, after doing that, it comesin above your budget, then you
need to decide whether to cutsome costs or adjust your budget
.
Many folks who do not plan endup saying, wow, that was more
expensive than I had planned for.

(05:15):
That's because thoseknuckleheads didn't plan.
Okay, what's the benefit ofdoing all this?
I just told you how to do abunch of stuff.
It takes time and you're going,so why?
Why do I need it?
What's the benefit?
So I think let's focus that.
You know.
This is where you can see thebenefit and also the benefit to
your career, right?

(05:35):
I think there's three mainbenefits of planning and they
make a solid case for doing it,and I think that if you think
about this in terms of yourcareer, you'll be better off.
First, the act of planningforces you to think through a
task in a way that just jumpingin to solve that task does not
do.
You may be surprised to findout that the task you were

(05:59):
assigned to do by your boss ismore complicated than you first
thought, and that's notsomething you want to find out
halfway through that task.
The second is that having aplan gives you something to
shift off of once you getstarted.
If something changes, then youcan go back to your boss and say
, hey, boss, yeah, somethingchanged, the plan's changed.

(06:21):
I need either more money ormore time or something along
those lines.
If you don't have a plan,you're just kind of winging it,
and your boss may not like that.
Then the third benefit ofplanning, especially on your
career and having a plan, isthat you're working with others.
You have something to show them, something to guide their
actions by just whatever comesout of your head at the moment,
their actions by just whatevercomes out of your head at the

(06:43):
moment, they'll appreciate thatand your task or project is much
more likely to succeed withthat shared plan.
All right, rambled along enoughabout this thing, about having
a plan, but it's serious.
You should have one foranything.
That's more than just aninstinctual task.
The bottom line if you want tosucceed, make a plan right.

(07:05):
There's an old adage that saysif you fail to plan, then you
plan to fail, and I think that'strue and that's not good for
your career.
So now, from the old jarhead,take my advice and you will do
better within your career thanyou would otherwise.
And take a look at my book Finda Job that Fits your Life.
It also demonstrates the use ofplanning in your career in a

(07:28):
larger scope.
Thanks for listening andgoodbye, thank you, thank you.