Creating the perfect plan

When I was first contemplating making the jump from corporate america to follow my dream I remember spending hours researching various forums, websites and data searching for the “perfect plan”. Hindsight being 20/20 I was falling into what I described to another OPM’r as “analysis paralysis”. I was spending so much time researching a plan that I was not doing anything to put that plan in action. If you are finding yourself trying to create the perfect plan the reality is there is no perfect plan, only perfect execution of a plan. Instead of creating the perfect plan, execute a good plan perfectly. The hardest step is the first one to put your plan into action. Have the courage to make that step. Best of Luck, Cheers.

Great insight.


You can take this a step further and say that this is normal human psychology. The fear of change and the power of “resistance.” An unreasonable fear brought about by our “lizard brain.” The brain that kept us safe from sabre tooth tigers, now it just prevents us from going outside our comfort zone.



Well said and a good point. I have for the last few months been visiting various forums to glean some information that could help me out in my career change. Some of it helpful but most of it discouraging. I would have just read a few things off of these opmd forums and just moved onto other forums. Thank you for the advice!

It is procrastination from the “thinking” part of our brains. It all stems from a fear of rejection. You try to make a perfect plan to avoid rejection which is impossible. The more you plan something the less likely you will actually do it.


The majority of the medical community reinforces these fears and they’ll usually use it to sell you some kind of a product/service.



Thanks for putting into perspective. I love researching options…so many options that I find myself 3 years later in the same place I was when I first started reading this forum. I hope this year has less false starts.

  • celticdoc2016 Said:
Instead of creating the perfect plan, execute a good plan perfectly.



Hate to be the "downer" in this thread, but when you have a family in tow, a good plan rarely gets executed perfectly. So I think it best to be prepared to tweek and retweek a good plan.

In other words, "perfect" retweeking the plan, 'cause it's gonna happen!!

Pathdr, Nothing “downer” about your post. You hit the nail on the head and missed the point in the same strike. (my poor attempt of a fun analogy). You are 100% correct that every plan will have to adapt to evolving circumstances. However, it is the fear of this change that can perpetuate the planning process to the point of not starting. How can one adapt to changes in their plan if they have not yet put that plan into action? My advice to those starting this journey is simply, do some research, put together a good initial plan, but most importantly put that plan into action. Together with your advice of being willing to adapt to changing factors I believe completes the thought as part of executing a plan perfectly involves ones willingness to adapt on the fly. Thank you for your insight. Best of Luck, Cheers.