You may have heard a few of the following famous quotes about planning:
1. "The best preparation for tomorrow is to do today's work superbly well." -Sir William Osler
2. "Plans are nothing; planning is everything." -Dwight D. Eisenhower
3. "Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now" -Alan Lakein
4. "Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up." -A. A. Milne quotes
5. "It pays to plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark."
Why do you think there are so many quotations about planning? Probably because people have been hit over the head by their own failures to plan. We learn from our mistakes.
We just finished our Annual Planning Conference for the upcoming troop year. Hopefully, we planned well. As you know, Troop 1396 is a Scout led and Scout planned unit. You guys control how this troop is run and what it achieves. The adults are here to supervise. Boy Scouts is not about how well Mr. Henry, Mr. Bortner or any of the Assistant Scoutmasters can plan and implement a troop meeting, but about how well each of you can plan a meeting, or an outing, set goals and achieve those goals.
There is a proverb: "Each hour spent planning is worth two hours saved during implementation." For example, if I hire a crew of workers to paint my house, and don't plan with them to have supplies and equipment ready, then nothing gets done, and I waste a lot of money. Another example, if we plan to do knots and lashings for a troop meeting, and no one communicates that to the quartermaster who stores the ropes and staves, then the program fails.
So, what are the steps to proper planning? You demonstrated these at the APC and this evening
1. Brainstorming – Presenting ideas for activities.
2. Voting on the activities. Everyone gets a voice.
3. Scheduling the activities - Deciding who will do what and when.
4. Briefing the plan to the Troop
There are many little sayings that remind us about the importance of planning.
1. "A goal without a plan is just a wish." -Antoine de Saint-Exupery
2. "He who fails to plan, plans to fail" Proverb quotes
And this one is the simplest AND one of my favorites... it is of course The Scout Motto, "Be Prepared"
These all basically say the same thing. Planning is important! Nothing in Scouting should be done without a plan. We can have a lot more fun, if we plan things properly!
Perhaps it is not just a coincidence that "Be Prepared" shares the same initials as one famous scouter, Baden Powell - I think he planned it that way.
A Scout should "Be Prepared".