How to plan without failure? Plan to have no plan.

Multiple projects, big and small meetings, event rundown, risk management, daily routine or travel itinerary… how many to-do-list are you having in your hands now?

Planning is a good practise to help us avoid missing any tasks, prioritise things we want to achieve and ensure a better result. Today, I’m introducing the best way to plan that even Evernote or Asana does not cover. It is inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.

“I have a dream"

photo by Forbes

American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr delivered his speech on 28 August 1963 to express his will on freedom and equality for all. The night before at 4am, he was still rewriting, cross checking his script like creating a poem. Next day on March on Washington, he stepped on the stage and start giving his speech. “I have a dream…” came out. This has not been written in his draft and became the greatest speech of the 20th century. When people ask about his inspiration, he mentioned “I just felt that I wanted to use it here”

Everyone plans for the best outcome. King’s example perfectly demonstrates how we can plan for the best without a failure. The secret is, plan without a plan.

3 steps on planning to have no plan

Step 1: Plan with intuition

When I say planning not to have a plan, we still need a solid plan. The difference is we plan with our intuition and prioritise our feelings. Start with a clear and precise intention in mind, knowing "what is the main purpose of this plan?", “ how do I want to feel when achieving it?". Every action step follow is playing around this intention and feeling from your heart. Support the plan with the logical mind to make everything concrete, at the same time always back to feel. Feel and cross check with your original intention and be clear if it is serving you the best.

This is a way of planning without being dominated by our ego mind which always plan for expectations. These expectations bring us fear of missing, fear of failure, fear of freedom and more. Plan with our feeling always helps us to focus and shift back to what we truly want.

Step 2: Dare to drop your plan

Now we come to the most difficult part. After planing your masterpiece, drop it. Yes, drop it completely. Honour you have just accomplished the best you can do in the moment. Be confident and prepared to show up and act it out without expectation.

Our normal habit of planning is distracting us from emotions, avoid us to stay in the present and feel what we truly need. Have the courage to drop your plan completely. Listen to the true wisdom that is not its own. Trust everything is going to be alright even if it all goes wrong. This is how we can let the universe plans for us and helps us to undo and adjust our plan to a better version. Practice acceptance with no defence, allow your present trust directs the future for you. To plan with no plan.

drop it. drop your plan completely without expectation.

Step 3: Act with your feelings

Planning without executing is just a dream and how we execute is a crucial part of our plan as well. Start executing your plan with conscious breathing, relax and breathe naturally with ease. Breathe into all the struggle, fear and denial. Every inhale, allow the air to flow inside you with confidence and trust. Every exhale, let go of all the resistance, un-trust and non peace. Breathe into your heart, into the original intention. Anchor this feeling of trust and certainty inside you.

Show up and act on your plan with this feeling anchoring in your heart. Continue acting with how you feel, check in every step you take if it is matching with this feeling. This is what go with the flow means. Release all the expectation, release the original plan that has been written on the paper. Live and work out the best plan by steering on how you feel.

show up to the world and do it with feelings

When we plan and act our plan with feelings, be ready for miracles to come. Very often, you would be surprised on what you did and how you act which can be something completely unexpected and sounds like something would never be done by you. This is how King came up with “I have a dream” in his speech. This is how we can plan to have no plan, a plan we allow to start, execute and celebrate with god.

Experience this way of planning with an open mind, write down all the miracle moments that happen to you. Whenever you are struggling to drop your plan after initial planning, come back to these proof of trust. Have faith and courage to follow how you feel again.