Back-Up Bonuses

Never underestimate the importance of having back-up plans. Rather than being wedded to specific outcomes, try having one or more additional ideas of how you can meet your needs or objectives if all does not go exactly according to schedule.

What do you do when things don’t work out just the way they were “supposed to”? Do you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again, considering (often, thought about in advance), how a Plan B (or C), might get the job done?

• Spending a great deal of time spent re-hashing what didn’t work rather than giving some additional or different ideas a try?

• Are you often left feeling like a victim? If so, it’s definitely time to think about several options you might reasonably consider, remembering that perfection (in this case, the perfect plan), rarely exists and can be a great excuse for doing nothing!

• Think about instances in which your initial arrangements fell through, but the plan you then instituted turned out to be the better one. Keep a list of these situations and outcomes, as they probably have occurred more frequently than you realized.

• Enlist feedback from trusted friends, family, colleagues, etc. to gather their input and suggestions for things you might change, incorporate, or discard from your initial ideas or concepts.

• Do research- find out how experts and other savvy sources on the subject/problem you’re considering have handled similar situations -list the pros and cons of the advice being given?

• Are you permitting yourself the right to change your mind? Whether mid-way through a chartered course, or even once completed, if it hasn’t worked out the way envisioned, what new approaches can now be considered and instituted?

• What areas of your life may need some re-planning and creative approaches to problem solving?

And remember, taking action is the catalyst for change!