Back on May 30 I blogged about “Dad’s typewriter” and that I had found a place to have it get a ‘spa’ treatment/tune-up.  Today I’m here to share with you how important it is to have a Plan B – Backup Plan and to recognize at times when it is time to use it. 

My focus today is on plan of action Backup Plans and not harddrive backups (although that is a planned future blog post topic here!)

Fast forward all these weeks and today I picked Dad’s typewriter back up and it still needs a ‘spa’ treatment.  I’ve been able to find a new place (four hour drive from here) that still does Typewriter repair.    The place where it had been during this time had the best of intentions they could fit it into their schedule (repairing typewriters is NOT their primary business model).  I am most appreciative they were willing to try to make the time.  It was time though to recognize and move forward with the alternate plan.

The reason I bring all this up is how important it is at times to know you have a Plan B for taking action and when to go ahead and implement it.

The same can be said for our letter writing goals.  I’ve been having a heartfelt note I know I need to write to a dear friend and it is now time rather than think of delaying to write the perfect words of encouragement to go ahead and write my words of encouragement.  My words I write in my note may not be perfect but they will be sincere, will be heartfelt, and will mean I took action.   So in this case my original plan has been strived perfection – and now I am declaring it has been long enough, there has been enough procrastination, and in this simplified example, my Plan B is to move forward and just go ahead and not try to ‘gold plate’ it!

In Project Management we have risk mitigation plans and risk assessments, and sophisticated approaches, and simple approaches – in the fifteen years plus I have been a Project Manager I still take comfort in my projects knowing I have a Plan B in place.

My message today as we head into the weekend is take action and move forward.  Or if you are not able to do that just yet set a timeline for when you will.  Here’s to a weekend of putting helpful action in our plans.

Anchors Aweigh,
Helen