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# No plan survives first contact with the enemy
- URL: https://www.jeffsu.org/no-plan-survives-first-contact-with-the-enemy/
- Published: 2023-03-26T10:30:32.000Z
- Updated: 2024-07-24T12:32:02.000Z
- Author: Jeff
- Tags: Career, Execution

> Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson

From 2016 to 2018 (my first two years at Google as an account manager), I thought annual planning was the most pointless activity at work.

If you’re unfamiliar with annual planning, it’s basically a 1-3 month exercise where you come up with a business plan for the next year:

- For example based on sales projections of US$ 1M in 2022, sales managers might estimate they need to hit US$ 1.4M in 2023, and come up with a plan to reach that goal

**Two reasons why I thought this was a complete waste of time:**

1. Things change quickly (e.g. Internal team re-orgs, Covid, Ukraine, US-CN tensions, etc.)
2. We would never revisit last year’s plan and hold ourselves accountable to what we set out to achieve

## What my younger self missed

But of course, there’s a reason why this quote is just as well-known as the one from Mike Tyson:

> *Plans are worthless, but planning is everything - Dwight D. Eisenhower*

I realized a little late the massive benefits that came with annual planning:

- The act of planning forced me to take a step back from the daily operations (i.e. the nitty gritty) and to look at the business from a bird’s eye view

Even taking a minute to think, “How am I going to get an additional US$ 400,000 for next year” meant I had to make time to brainstorm ideas, schedule 1:1’s with mentors to get their advice, and structure my next steps in Google Slides.

I found time and time again that while I would only complete 30-40% of the actions I said I would, having a completed slide deck titled, "2023 Marketing Plan" itself put me on the right path and often helped me start the year strong.

## Implications

The next time you catch yourself rolling your eyes during an annual planning meeting, remind yourself that the act of making a plan is the end goal, **NOT** the final presentation (I know it’s weird).

This way, **you won’t** make my mistake of always bringing negative energy into the meetings (I complained a lot to be honest) and **you will** walk away with a clearer understanding of what you need to do!

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