6 Reasons Your Business Plan Failed
And how to fix them
Ten year, five year, three year, one year, or six month plans simply just don’t work out sometimes…That’s a lie. They don’t work out the majority of the time, especially the way you thought it was going to play out. But planning it made you feel accomplished, I bet! Boy-oh-boy, when your plans don’t work out, it absolutely sucks, because your endorphins kick in and you get all jittery and excited and then, nothing, absolutely nothing happens the way you just played it out in your mind. This happens throughout the entirety of your life, mostly because of expectations — expectations placed on things going according to your plan!
I have to burst your bubble though, people. Life doesn’t work according to your plans. Life throws curveballs, fast balls, trees, and kitchen sinks at us in the process of trying to achieve or reach our goals and dreams. Here are a few things I’ve learned by reflecting on when life has hit me with a knuckle sandwich or two from time-to-time.
Why Your Startup Plans Failed
Selfishness
Yeah, you’re selfish to think the world revolves around you, that you expect things to go your way just because you planned them, and that life owes you for making those plans (slow clap). You’re living in a bubble if you think this way, and your bubble is going to be popped one day soon. And if it’s later than sooner, I will pray for you now!
Lack of humility
You have to be able to have humility, because life is inconsistent, so be kind enough to yourself to be able to be flexible and pivot. Be observant, be diligent, and be fluid. I believe it was the great Bruce Lee that said, “You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend.”
Fragile plans
The plans you set were, let’s face it, not clear enough, and you just didn’t believe what you were going after. Your plan didn’t align with your heart and what you knew to be true from the beginning, so, go back and re-write your plan!
Small measuring stick
So you wrote out plans for a year, when you should’ve written out a five year plan to spread out the necessary work needed to achieve your goals to execute your plan. Go back and rewrite your plan today!
Too long of a measuring stick
Yeah, you needed short-term goals and wrote out a ten year plan, when you truly needed to focus on the core developments of the business, or your life plans right now. This can lead to misplacing goals to complete in your plan, leaving you dazed and confused, leading you on a downward spiral before the crash. Well, if you’ve crashed, congratulations because you’re reading this and can get right back up and re-write your plan! This time, truly think about what your mission is, write it down, know what needs to be done, then write it out!
Your plans have failed before
So what? Whose plans haven’t failed them before in this unpredictable thing we call life? You’re not perfect and your bubble needs to be popped, so take a pin, and prick your bubble and fall out of lala land. We all fall, we all fail. Make sure you embed that into your mind, remember that saying, it will save you a lot of heartache and mental anguish when everything seems like it’s only happening to you. Go back, look yourself in the mirror (you’re there right now, cool)…Tell yourself, “I’m still amazing, I am alive, I can do this, I will do this, who’s going to stop me? We all fall, we all fail!”. Now go rewrite that plan!
What have you learned from why your business plans failed? Let us know down in the comments.
This article originally published on GREY Journal.
This article originally published on GREY Journal: https://discovergrey.com/hustle/grow/6-reasons-your-business-plan-failed/
