Mowabites Worldwide

“Your plan and the way things turn out rarely resemble each other.” -Ryan Holiday

Today I completed Ryan Holiday’s book “The obstacle is the way. And the quote above from his book has kept me thinking…

Several times in my life circumstances have brought me to my knees, bringing my life to a standstill thanks to my refusal to create a backup plan in case things didn’t turn out as expected. Because I was so sure things will work out.

Sometimes we come to that borderline between faith and common sense. I have faith, and I am willing to give my all towards an objective. I don’t care what or how long it takes. If I accept that my efforts could end in failure and psyche myself for it, making provisions for the shock while putting measures in place for life after the fatal crush of my expectations, is that a sign of weakness, lack of faith and confidence in my capabilities ?

Consider your parents, for instance. You pray and hope that they live long, long enough to reap the fruits of their labour. And so, when you’re proposed a life insurance cover for them, you might feel like a gold digger who doesn’t believe your parents can live for a very long time.

On the other hand, preparing for future irrespective of what it brings implies staring the unpleasant truth in the eye. For instance, the livelihood of many children depends on their parents and the demise of a parent increases the financial pressure on the rest of the family. Benefits from insurance cover can be used to start a business to support a family, finance the education of a sibling or ease the cost of burial during  traumatizing periods.

There are moments in life that do not give us the option to develop a plan B. It’s either we advance or retreat in defeat, where faith is our only means of transport to our desired destination.

However, whenever hurdles ahead of us bend to accommodate a plan B, we must seize the occasion to design effective back up plans that keeps us advancing even when our operation gets murky and our mission appears foiled in disaster.

That way we become, in the words of Ryan Holiday, :

“Always prepared for disruption, always working that disruption into our plans. Fitted, as they say, for defeat or victory. And let’s be honest, a pleasant surprise is a lot better than an unpleasant one.”