Plans Are Nothing

At the beginning of the 2010, we sat down and thought of all the things we wanted to do this year. We broke that down into projects, and then I spent some time figuring out all the tasks that went into those projects.

Two weeks later, that plan was out the door. I don't think we've looked at it since.

That doesn't mean it hasn't significantly informed our thinking. We know that growth is our big goal this year. A lot of our plans have been incorporated into what we've been doing as we've gone along, and as things we never anticipated -- like being included in Real Simple's Summer Gift Guide -- have come along, we've been able to take advantage of things that have helped us achieve our goals, just not in the way that we thought.

In grad school, we had a professor who was fond of saying: Plans are nothing, planning is everything. Thinking through the issues is important. Knowing what can fall by the wayside is important. Being clear on your goals is INCREDIBLY important. Knowing the exact steps you're going to take to get there? Eh, not so much.

We're on the way to reaching our goals, but not quite how we thought we would.