Complete the Planning
This is the fifth in a series of posts on using the Six Troop Leading Steps (BAMCIS) in the War of Life.
Get caught up here:
Arrange for Reconnaissance
Make the Reconnaissance
The next step in BAMCIS is: Complete the Planning.
This is where you take the mission, the assumptions you needed to make to continue planning, the ground truth discovered during your reconnaissance, the available resources, the constraints (things you must do), restraints (things you must not do), your commander’s intent, and then turn all of it into a course of action that can actually be executed.
This is where many personal & professional development efforts flounder.
Not necessarily because you lack desire or discipline, but because your plan sucks.
It assumes that your reservoir of time, energy, attention, discipline, and support will be unlimited.
Spoiler Alert: It will not.
During planning, we need to build our Course of Action (COA) for the person that we are in order to become the person we want to be.
We can’t build a plan that depends on the person we want to become to execute.
He doesn’t exist yet.
Build a plan for who you are, aimed at who you are becoming.
That is the art of Campaigning.
A good COA should absolutely stretch you, but it has to meet five criteria:
Feasible: Accomplishes the mission within available time, space, and resources.
Acceptable: The potential mission benefits are worth the cost in casualties, time, and resources.
Suitable: Accomplishes the task and directly aligns with the commander’s (your) intent and purpose.
Distinguishable: The COAs you develop need to differ enough to provide you with options.
Complete: Fully addresses all tasks, from initial maneuver and fires to logistical support and casualty evacuation. Reference
If your recon shows that you currently train twice a week, do not build a plan that requires seven intense sessions right away.
If your schedule is packed, do not pretend you have two free hours every morning.
If you always make poor food choices when you are tired, do not rely on your willpower at 8:30 p.m.
If you are trying to write, do not make a plan that depends on the muses visiting you.
In Walking Point terms, this is where you align your strategic aim, operational objectives, and tactical actions.
The strategic aim is the big direction.
“I want to become hard to kill.”
“I want to become a more present father.”
“I want to grow my business.”
“I want to become the kind of person who keeps promises to himself.”
The operational objectives are the intermediate wins.
Lose ten pounds.
Publish every week for three months.
Have one phone-free family dinner every night.
Book three new clients.
Run a sub-25-minute 5K.
Pay off a credit card.
Read twelve serious books this year.
The tactical actions are what happen today.
Train at 0630.
Prepare tomorrow’s food tonight.
Write for thirty minutes before checking email.
Call 10 clients.
Put the phone in another room.
Walk after dinner.
Go to bed at 2130.
A completed campaign plan connects all three.
If your daily actions don’t support your operational objectives, you’re lost.
If your operational objectives do not support your strategic aim, you are performing random acts of self-improvement.
If your strategic aim is vague, your tactics will amount to your wasting ammo on alligators nearest the boat.
Complete your COA by making it specific.
What will you do?
When will you do it?
Where will you do it?
What standard must be met?
What is the minimum acceptable action?
What will you do when friction appears?
How will you know if the plan is working?
That last question matters.
A plan without a task, conditions, and a standard relies on hope. And we have a saying in the Marines, “Hope is not a Course of Action.”
Build checkpoints along your route.
Execute a daily azimuth check.
Execute a weekly AAR.
Execute a monthly campaign plan review by asking:
What happened?
What was supposed to happen?
What explains the gap?
What will I sustain, improve, add, or stop?
This is self-leadership.
A Marine leader completes the plan so the unit can execute with confidence. You complete your plan, so your future self isn’t forced to improvise every decision under stress.
The plan won’t eliminate the hardship, but it will reduce unnecessary confusion in the fog of war.
And confusion wastes energy, ammo, and kills momentum.
Complete the plan because once the fight starts, you will not rise to the occasion; you will default to your level of planning, training, and preparation.
Today’s Tactic:
Develop your COAs and select the one that most effectively moves you towards your next operational objective.
If today’s actions don’t serve the mission, change the action tomorrow, or admit defeat.
John - Your arms dealer for the war of life
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“We can’t build a plan that depends on the person we want to become to execute. He doesn’t exist yet. Build a plan for who you are, aimed at who you are becoming.”
Brilliant advice, John! Problem is, most of us imagine the “who we are” as a bit more grand and capable than facts on the ground would support. So we overshoot on expectations. One of my favorite suggestions when people are floundering with a task is “Cut the thing in half”. Works like a charm!