Great Planners Focus on Plan B

Great Planners Focus on Plan B

It hurts less
if they can't
reach the bag.

First plans rarely survive contact with the enemy - or, as the philosopher Mike Tyson put it "Everyone has a plan until you get punched in the mouth."  Typically, we think everything will go well...or at least hope everything will go well.  Rarely do we go into something with a plan or intention to fail...but in all likelihood, we will fail periodically...and hopefully so, because through failure comes growth.  Anyhow, with the reality that we'll have times when "it doesn't all work out," it's important to figure out a Plan B in different facets of life.  That said, there is some truth to the Navy SEAL's "never quit" attitude of the "Plan A or death" mantra...things like marriage and parenting should be absolutes.  Beyond that though, a Plan B is a good idea.  

Use visual
aids in planning.

In the military, we talk about PACE planning, particularly in communications.  In other words, what are the Primary Plan and the Alternate, Contingency, and Emergency ways to communicate?  In this example, the Primary might be using the radio on Channel 1.  Alternate might be to go to Channel 2.  Continency might be satellite communicator and Emergency could be signal panels or signal mirror.  The idea of PACE can be applied to parts of your family life.  Let's substitute our "plan B" philosophy for kid education...Primary might be homeschooling, alternate could be faith-based school, contingency could be virtual school, and emergency could be public school.  

If you find a dinosaur while
driving, go to Plan B.

For our Plan A/B (primary/alternate), we should have the details fairly figured out as there is a decent chance we could migrate from the main to the backup.  We should have a few details figured out as well as trigger points that tell us to head to Plan C/D/E if needed so we know when to cut our losses and move on.  As an example, with our career, the Primary is likely what we're doing currently.  The Alternate may be the same job with another company.  Those two options we likely have fairly fleshed out and figured out.  The next couple of levels down, however, may not be so detailed in their planning sophistication.  The contingency may be a local retail job, while the emergency may be unemployment insurance or disability. We may not have too many details (who to call, how it works, etc) on the disability/unemployment, knowing that in real-time, we can likely look up the phone call and particular process.  

Make a 
planning team.

For family, our "plan A" or most desired course of action is that we live a charmed life with a happy marriage, great kids, a beautiful house, and such.  That doesn't necessarily account for the bumps that are realities in life.  Sickness, struggle, frustration, job loss - those are all things that are realities and force us into Plan B, C, etc.  We don't plan (as a path toward the intended outcome) to struggle in marriage or parenting...but, do you have a plan for when struggle comes?  Do you have some courses of action thought through and prepped for when something goes sideways?  Our Plan A is to keep our job.  Our plan B is to have a resume ready, be well networked, have solid/up-to-date skills, and be scanning job search engines.  

The bigger problems need
bigger plans...but the process
is the same.

When we have contingencies pop up, if we've done some intentional, proactive consideration of options while we're not faced with the emotion and fear of the problem, we're ahead of where we would have been.  For example, if bullying, job loss, or natural disaster pops up in your neighborhood, if you've thought about where/how/when to move, it reduces the stress since you've worked through the details.  Knowing that you've covered some of the steps of moving/re-invention worked out, the fear and stress go down.  Through our planning, we can practice (in this case via travel), research (read/watch), and build/fill out plans or checklists ahead of time.  The value in doing some of this is essentially pre-thinking, pre-deciding, and pre-figuring out details so that our time horizon when a crisis does strike is essentially elongated since one of the main scarcities in crisis is the luxury of time.  

Planning ahead
may help you
see what can 
happen.

Lastly, consider the potential of prevention through PACE planning.  By going through the motions and work of planning ahead of time, we likely will recognize some of the pitfalls or speedbumps that we may then be able to avoid.  For example, if you've worked through a PACE plan for your career, we might be able to better see the writing on the wall when layoffs, industry shifts, market downturns, termination, or other hurdles are in the road.  By seeing those things because we did some planning, we may be able to sidestep.  For example, by carefully analyzing peers a few years ahead of where I was at in a previous non-profit, I was able to better position myself for an "alternate" career plan and switch to the government sector when some rough patches were headed our way.

To wrap it up, PACE planning or Plan B planning doesn't guarantee success, it may also distract from the Shark-Tank-Entrepreneur-or-Die.  It does however nearly ensure resilience or the idea that you'll bounce back strong or perhaps even stronger through adversity.  Communities that have a PACE construct set out ahead of a disaster come back stronger, quicker, and more vibrant than those that did not.  You'll have a few Mike-Tyson-Punch-In-The-Mouth moments throughout your life undoubtedly.  PACE planning won't get in front of every what-if...but the idea of intentionality and meaningful forethought in strategy will pay dividends.  Good luck PACE-ing!

With you in the arena, from ours to yours...Happy Trails!

Call to Action: 

• Pick out a few items in your facets of life that could use a little more robust PACE style planning - finance, career, kid raising, where you live - and commit to writing out a 1-pager PACE on one of them...then repeat. 
• 1 - ___________________ 
• 2 - ___________________
• 3 - ___________________
• Discussion: Consider what you/your family could/would/should (level of commitment) and start/stop/sustain (action) in this space.  What plans are you going to work through together?  

Further Reading, Motivation, and References:

- DHS CISA PACE Planning

-  PACE Planning from a Green Beret - Great Channel by the way!