Do you have a plan for 2026? Written down, in your head, on a napkin somewhere? Anything counts.

Have you looked at the plan (if you have one) in the last 30 days? Made a single decision because of it?

If you just said "um...no" to having a plan or to referencing your plan. you're in good company. Most everyone has been there.

That gap between not having a plan and having a plan is real and consequencial. Without a plan, any outcome (or not getting any outcomes) is the result. If you are good with your life or at least your business life blowing around like a leaf in the breeze, that’s likely acceptible. But most of us want to go somewhere, usually somewhere better, and we are much more likely to get there with a plan rather than without one.

We don't plan because we know what's going to happen. We plan because we don't. And a plan only helps if it keeps up with what actually happens.

I have written scads about creating your plan. Peruse my blog and my first book, AHEAD: Strategy is the way to a better future. But that’s not what this post is about. This is about acting on your plan and adapting your plan.

I learned a lot about planning and acting on and adapting the plan the hard way. For many years, I was a short-track speedskater, a marathoner, an Ironman triathlete, and a running and triathlon coach. Sixty marathons. Ironman Canada year after year for 11 years. 100s of race plans. And plenty of race days that did not go according to the plan, at least according to my plan or my client’s plan for the day.