I was recently reading somewhere that “Plan versus Actual is life” and I tend to agree. We all dream big and aspire to fulfil our dreams to the best of our ability.

However, when reality bites us, we realise that what we planned is different from our current realities and that is life. This does not mean we should not plan, nor it means that the current reality may not drive us towards our goals.

This means that either our plan was inadequate or the execution beyond the plan, was not good enough. It is almost like the new year resolutions ,most of us make. We are high on enthusiasm when we make those resolutions but within weeks, if not days, we realise that reality is far from the promises, we made to ourselves.

It is almost like the gym ,in most offices today. While all employees desire to have the best of gym in their workplace; after a few months, if not weeks of its inauguration, we see that most gyms are either closed down or highly underutilised.

This is not because a gym at work ,is not a desirable thing. It also does not mean that employees do not want to be healthy. What is means is, there is a huge gap between plan vis a vis actuals and that is life.

If we move to the business situation, we understand it much better. All of us plan grandiosely. However, even before the end of the first quarter ,of a new financial year, we talk of revising the plans for the subsequent quarters since the actuals of the first quarter makes us realise the ground realities.

So, we need to realise that our life and work are not very different. At both places, we need to plan and then execute it meticulously. The gap between plan and actuals, is life. We need to realise that our life will be as good as our planning and execution.

If we either do not plan well or we do not execute well, we face failure in life and that disappoints us. It may be simple to assume that we need to go back to the drawing board and look at our plans or the gap between our plans and execution strategies.

Both at life and work, our planning has to be continual and evolving. Our execution also has to adapt to the changing needs of the environment. If we have planned well and implement our plans meticulously, the chances of disappointments are less. However, the environment around us may not always be under our control.

So our plans and implementation strategies have to be adaptive and evolving. We need to fine tune them ,keeping in mind the changing circumstances and our own moving milestones.

If we positively accept life, then our ability to execute what we have planned more realistically ,becomes a reality. On the other hand, if we surrender to current reality and refuse to change ourselves, then our plans will continue to be ,building castles in the air.

Let’s start living life positively from today.

S Ramesh Shankar

2nd Jan 2025