Uncover Any Flaws in Your Plan

By Crystal Andrus

 “Our greatest glory is not in never falling,but in rising every time we fall.” ~ Confucius ~

Is there a problem with your plan? How can you know? Perhaps you just haven’t given it enough time? If you’ve done the proper due-diligence, allow the seeds of creation to germinate and the roots of success to grow.

If, however, your gut—or your results—tell you that things aren’t moving in the right direction, you need to uncover any flaws in your plan as soon as possible. This takes courage, as most of us would, sadly, rather be right than be empowered. Admitting to flaws in our plan might mean we’d made a mistake . . .

You need to check in continually with your “Success Tracker” and be honest with yourself.  Are you hitting your targets? If not, reassess your plan.

Did You Do Your Due-Diligence?

According to Webster’s dictionary, “due diligence” is a term used “for a number of concepts involving either the performance of an investigation of a business or person, or the performance of an act with a certain standard of care. It can be a legal obligation, but the term will more commonly apply to voluntary investigations. A common example of due diligence in various industries is the process through which a potential acquirer evaluates a target company or its assets for acquisition.”

Whether you are considering seriously dating someone or getting married, starting a business,  investing your money or time, buying a home, choosing a real estate agent or financial advisor, partnering with someone on a project, hiring an employee, renting your home, finding a contractor . . . the list is endless, you must always do your due diligence. If you don’t, you are entering into an agreement blindly. (Just remember the saying “love is blind.”)

It is not an insult to protect yourself or your loved ones. You need to make educated decisions, as well as “going with your gut!” Take the time now, if you didn’t do it in the beginning, to learn as much as you can about the person or project.

Five Ways to Ruin Your Success!

1. Ask for more than you’re willing to give—others catch on quickly and soon feel resentful with your selfishness.
2. Give more than you’re willing to lose—eventually your “well” will run dry and you’ll become an “angry giver”—you’ll poison your success with your own resentment.
3. Ride someone else’s coattails—once they take off their coat, you’re screwed!
4. Lie your way to the top—a house built on lies always crumbles.
5. Slow down just as things are getting going, believing that momentum will carry you. It won’t forever!

Every Failure Brings You One Step Closer To Success

Okay . . .  So you didn’t investigate everything as thoroughly as you could have and the project isn’t working out completely as planned. No worries!

If you are totally invested—emotionally, financially, and/or spiritually—in your creation you simply need to uncover the flaws in your original plan and correct them.

Uncovering the flaws in your plan, just like staying focused on solutions, isn’t always easy! How many times can you get back up, after you’ve been continuously knocked down? How many times will you go back and uncover the flaws in your plan???

The right answer: As many times as it takes for you to figure out what you’re doing wrong!

That’s all you can do . . .

And you know what? People respect you when they see you coming back, trying to get it right! That’s integrity!

What do Jim Carrey, Halle Berry, Kelly Clarkson, Ella Fitzgerald, Martin Sheen, Charlie Chaplin, Chris Gardiner, Carey Grant, Kelsey Grammar, Daniel Craig, Richard Fagan, Djimon Hounsou, Harland ‘Colonel’ Sanders, David Letterman, Hilary Swank, John Woo, and John Drew Barrymore, have in common, besides the fact that they are all extremely talented people?

They were all homeless at times while trying to build their career! People may have looked at them as failures, and maybe at times they wondered themselves why they were so intent on achieving their dreams, but in the end, temporary failure was what brought them great success!

Failure is such an awful word—its implications are so negative sounding. I believe that failure is experience—specialized knowledge. I feel like I could give any writer the most brilliant advice needed to become an internationally best-selling author. And it’s not from my successes! It’s from my failures! I learned first-hand what I did wrong, as well as what I did right! Not to mention, it was my failures that stoked the coals of desire and frustration; my failures become my driver to prove myself to myself!!

In the beginning, I truly thought that I had “one shot”—one opportunity that could “make or break” my entire career. Every time I went on a stage, I walked off and wondered if I blew it. Many times I had lucky breaks—with sold out books and people waiting hours to meet me, but there were many times that I would come home, cry, and kick myself for blowing a great opportunity. Why didn’t I do it differently?

But I learned . . .

And I’m still learning!

Eventually, even after my biggest messes, I’d pick myself up and shake myself off and do whatever “damage control” I needed to do and then get right back at it. I’d try to uncover my flaws to do better the next time! Every talk made me better. Every failure made me stronger. Every success gave me just enough fuel to drive me to the next place.

If you compare it to marriage, you don’t consider your relationship over just because you have a disagreement—even a huge disagreement. You let the dust settle, go back, and talk it out. You apologize for your part in it. You kiss, and hopefully, you make up! You learn from your mistakes. You grow. You become better.

See Also

The Psychology of Feelings

If part of your plan isn’t working, rework it.  If the new idea doesn’t help, change it. Continue to find solutions until it does work! Temporary defeat means only one thing: Something is wrong with your plan. As Napoleon Hill states in Think & Grow Rich, “The most intelligent person living cannot succeed in accumulating money— or in any other undertaking— without plans that are practical and workable. Just keep this fact in mind, and remember when your plans fail that temporary defeat is not permanent failure. It may only mean that your plans have not been sound. Build other plans. Start all over again!”

Uncover the Lies

At my Simply . . . Woman Retreats, I do a “truth” exercise, where I explain how powerful our own lives can become once we find the courage to uncover our lies and speak our truth.

When your life feels hard—whether it’s your business, relationship, or health—it is because somewhere you aren’t living your truth. It goes back to the steps on creation—if you are sabotaging, consciously or unconsciously, it is because somewhere you are out of integrity. You may be living what someone else has convinced you of, but it isn’t the truth for you.

Where in your life are you still lying? Where are you not telling the truth? What are you covering up? In what area do you need help?

Uncovering the lies, like uncovering flaws, may be as simple as owning up to the truth that you haven’t budgeted properly or spent accordingly; it may mean you’ve lied or manipulated; you’ve procrastinated, avoided things, or let important decisions slide. You must, then, fix it—do it differently . . . with integrity! Few things in life are irreversible!

Only you can be honest with yourself—and only you can decide to make things right!

The truth, no matter how hard it may seem in the moment, will always set you free!

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If you are ready to face your truths, to truly turn your passion into a sustainable and rewarding career, to take your business and lifestyle to the next level, I invite you to take a look at The S.W.A.T. Institute’s Business Behind the Business Program.

And get my free Tele-seminar “The 3 P’s (Prerequisites) to Massive Success” – and begin your journey to “correct your course” and create the life you have always dreamed of!