Every business plan looks perfect in the spreadsheet.
Revenue climbs neatly month by month.
Costs behave themselves.
The forecasts balance to the penny.
It's beautiful.
Clients delay.
Plans change.
Priorities shift.
And suddenly, your beautiful plan starts getting scribbled over in red.
That's not failure.
That's business.
Planning is essential.
But precision is overrated.
A plan should give you direction, not a script.
The moment you treat it like gospel, you lose the flexibility that actually makes you effective.
I used to treat my plans like contracts with the universe.
When things didn't go exactly as planned, I felt like I'd failed.
Now?
Every month, I compare what I thought would happen with what actually did.
Sometimes I'm close.
Most of the time, I'm not.
But that's not the point.
It taught me to think in scenarios, not absolutes.
What happens if that client doesn't sign?
What happens if that project costs 20% more?
What happens if growth doubles faster than I expected?
When you plan in pencil, you're not being vague.
You're being adaptable.
You're building a mindset that expects change and can handle it.
The most successful businesses aren't the ones with the most accurate plans.