Importance of Plan B

So, you planned at 16 that when you get out of school at the age of 18, you will pursue engineering from an NIT, India and then at the age of 22, after graduation you will pursue masters from UK and then get a good job and apply for permanent residency. But guess what? Part or whole of it didn’t work out. So, this is the plan of many of the Indian people where they choose either Engineering or MBBS as a career option and most of them fail to become good engineers or doctors. In a nutshell, this is Plan A for a 20 something Indian or in a broader range, Plan A for a 20 something. Nationality has nothing to do with it.

So, here I will list out the reasons why this Plan A failed to come good and why your backup Plan B will almost always succeed.

1.      Lack of Implementation: This is the single most reason why your Plan A might fail to come good. Besides, circumstances play a huge roll as well. Plan A is generally the first plan that you have made for your life and because of lack of experience you might not have given enough importance to implementing it.

2.      Too young to know what you really love: A lot of my friends have changed career paths at the age of 22 or 24. That means at a very tender age, we might not have matured enough to understand what we really love or might have ignored other avenues altogether. Only a handful people, people who are a child prodigy or overwhelmingly talented in something might know from their childhood where they really want to head towards in their life professionally as well as personally.

3.      Influence and Clichés: Your Plan A will always be influenced by your friends and family and in many cases, it will be something that you are compelled to do. So, you might end up not liking your Plan A or altogether hating it. That doesn’t mean that your parents’ advice is wrong. Just that they might not have weighed out all the options for you.

4.      You finally know what you are doing: Now that you have failed at executing your Plan A, you finally have the idea how the world works. So, you list down your Strengths and Weaknesses, do SWOT Analysis about yourself and choose a better and efficient Plan B. As a result, your experience of Plan A is going to help you out in preparing a better Plan B.

5.      Everyone’s searching for their goals: No one really has the idea where they really want to go or what they really want to do with their lives, apart from some people of course. In a nutshell, they are exploring options and creating new opportunities and avenues for their professional growth. Due to the uniqueness of your Plan B, it has more and more chances at success.