71. Stop Asking, “What’s Your Plan?”

I hate that question. The underlying assumption is that you have a firm grasp on the problem, that you have a plan of action, and you know what to do next. Because the question is so broad, it’s probably not going to generate meaningful action.

Consider this: A plan is nothing more than questions yet to be answered, like, What’s your vision? Who are your customers? How big is the market? Who are the competitors? What’s your core value proposition? Where are you strong or weak? What makes you unique?

Start with the questions most relevant to your plan, then you can start plan­ning.

Dwight Eisenhower said, “Plans are nothing. Planning is everything.” He rec­ognized that the process of thinking through a plan was more important than any marks on paper.

What are the most important questions for this plan?