Why "Plan A" Doesn'tWork

Playing chess showed me that thinking only one step ahead isn't enough most times. Applying this knowledge to life, I started thinking ahead and made multiple backup strategies that added depth to my plans. Doing this also showed me that a lot of the times, the reason the first plan doesn't work is because we tend make it too simple. The better plans I made, the more I realized why the plan before wasn't as efficient. Fail-safe plans are talked about heavily, but I wanted to focus on a specific part where we see why the first plan is almost always bound to fail.

Why It Falls

The first plan most people make are always thought to be executed per- fectly, where everything goes right, and it has no possibility of failing. The thing is, just like chess, we
can't always predict the next move made by our opposition. The only time you can predict the opponent's move in chess with accuracy is when you have control of the board, where they have to comply with your moves and move their pieces accordingly. Many times, with plan A, most people don't have control of the board and move as if they do. This is a big reason why most of our first plans fail, there isn't much control or experience to execute the plans with ease.

How I try to minimize fallure This is purely opinion based, but I think the best way to maximize success is to keep trying newer plans. This sounds obvious, but a lot of the times people will stop trying because the opponent is too tough to beat and just give up halfway through and don't try new methods
to gain control over the board. It's kind of the same with when we face challenges, instead of giving up halfway through the challenge, it's better to lose and learn ways to better your strategies. If the challenge you're facing has no time constraint, then there is no point in ignoring it. Sometimes in chess the opponent might move on to a differ- ent player if they are bored playing against you, but the obstacles you face in life won't, so it's better to overcome it rather than avoiding it.

Expect to fail when strategizing something new but have a strong mindset when executing it. Instead of avoiding the problem, what worked for me was trying new strategies and adding depth to my plans. When starting out with a plan, it's like playing a new game
of chess, every move is set to gain control of the board and make your opposition comply with your moves. Applying this to life, the first move alone won't help you win, but the sets of moves leading up to the endgame is what helps you gain control of the board and beat your opponent. This article was heavily inspired by Batman.