The Death of the Perfect Plan

Your plan is already obsolete.

Your plan is already obsolete.

Markets shift.

Competitors pivot.

Your team wakes up tired on Tuesday.

The more perfect the plan, the faster reality makes a fool of you.

The longer you polish the plan, the less likely you are to win.

The leaders thriving right now aren’t the best planners.

They’re the best adapters.

They win because they play the game as it exists on the field.

They don’t get caught in common leadership pitfalls:

• Sunk Cost Fallacy: The tendency to continue with a venture or course of action because you have already invested time, money, or effort, even when it is no longer the most rational choice.

• Best Practice Mediocrity: The idea that by strictly adhering to established "best practices," a business or individual may achieve average results but will struggle to innovate or stand out from the competition.

• Survivor Bias: The logical error of focusing on the people or things that "survived" a process while overlooking those that did not, which can lead to overly optimistic or inaccurate conclusions.

Winners don’t need to be right; all they care about is getting it right.

The Trap of the Perfect Plan

Every leader falls into it once.

You map out every contingency. You build the 90-day roadmap. You polish the pitch deck.

This is not entirely your fault.

Mainstream business school professors and business coaches have taught this nonsense for years.

I’m going to let you in on a secret…

No one knows the answer till you ship.

Those of you who wait, by the time you present your plan, three things have already happened:

1. The opportunity window has narrowed.

2. Your people are tired of waiting to act.

3. Your competitors have continued moving forward.

Planning feels safe.

It feels professional.

But for high achievers, planning becomes a drug.

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The Finding Peak Podcast

Early this week, we hit #2 in the Apple Business category…

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The "Dopamine Hit" of Planning

When you plan to do something, whether it's a simple to-do list or a detailed project outline, your brain releases a small amount of dopamine.

This happens because dopamine is associated with the anticipation of a reward, not just the reward itself.

The act of planning creates a sense of control and accomplishment, which your brain interprets as a positive step towards a goal. This can make you feel good, motivated, and focused.

Here's why this happens:

• Goal-Seeking Behavior: Dopamine is a "goal-seeking" brain chemical. It fuels our desire to create to-do lists, set New Year's resolutions, and make long-term plans. The simple act of writing down or sharing your plans can release dopamine, which can unconsciously satisfy your desire for goal achievement.

• Anticipation of Reward: The brain's reward system, which utilizes dopamine, is activated when we anticipate receiving a reward. Planning creates this expectation, and the bigger the anticipated reward, the more powerful the dopamine spike. This is why you might feel a surge of motivation when you first start a project or when you're nearing its completion.

• Emotional Regulation: Procrastination is often a problem with emotional regulation, rather than a time management issue. We delay tasks to avoid negative feelings like anxiety, boredom, or self-doubt. Planning can be a way to cope with these emotions, as it provides a sense of control and progress without the immediate discomfort of actually doing the work.

The Downside: The "Dopamine Trap"

The problem arises when the dopamine hit from planning becomes a substitute for action.

This is sometimes referred to as the "dopamine trap." You get the satisfaction of feeling productive without having to do the hard work of execution.

This can lead to a cycle of planning and replanning without ever making real progress.

Here’s why we fall into this trap as leaders:

• Fear of Failure: Many people procrastinate because they are afraid of not meeting their own or others' expectations. Planning can feel safer than doing because there's no risk of failure.

• Perfectionism: Perfectionists often set unrealistically high standards for themselves, which can make starting a task feel overwhelming. Planning can be a way to delay the inevitable "imperfect" execution.

• The "Planning Fallacy": This is the tendency to underestimate the time required to complete a task, even when we know from past experience that similar tasks have taken longer. This can lead to over-planning and a false sense of security.

How to Overcome the "Dopamine Trap"

The key to overcoming this cycle is to find ways to induce a dopamine release through the process of doing, rather than just planning.