You can still succeed...


This is a bit of a side bar for a second, but I feel the need to somehow come to the aid of the concept of having a Plan B in life.  People seem to attack this idea as if it means you'll fail at Plan A.  And that taking your eyes off Plan A will most certainly ensure that you will never succeed at Plan A.

People, Plan A is just a route - it's not the goal.  Think about it this way:  You're going home for the holidays.  Home is your goal for the trip.  Plan A may include driving.  But maybe there's traffic on the main highways that are causing major delays.  What do you do? Give up?  Say you failed?  Stay on this main street and take what could be additional HOURS on your travel time? Or do you look in your navigation system and find an alternate route?  It could be a bit more inconvienet, it could have a few more turns and stops, but ultimately, you'll make it.  This is the concept you should have when considering your Plan B. The goal didn't change, but the way you got there did.

And this concept does work with everything.  For some people the ultimate goal with dating is to eventually find someone you can spend the rest of your life with.  Plan A may be to meet someone in school.  Plan B may be to meet someone at work.  Plan C may be to have your friends introduce you to someone.  Plan D may be to have your family introduce you.  Plan E may be online dating.  I could go on for days, but the point is, if you want to be married, there are several tracks you can take in dating and how to date, to get you there. Same thing with your career goals.  Want to be a CEO, self employed, whatever it is.  There are several ways to get there.

I write this to mostly because people get so focused on the route and forget that ultimately they're trying to reach a goal.  The plan is just that - a plan. It can change, it can grow and it can even fail.  This is life.  Very few things go the way we plan.  But that doesn't mean you can't reach your goal. You just have to be flexible enough to take the opportunities that are presented to you that will help you get there.  Not just focus on your initial idea or plan. Because if you reach your goal, why does it matter how you've gotten there?  Wether it was your first plan or your 30th.  You made it right?