The Power of Planning

The Power of Planning: What Eisenhower Knew That Most Business Owners Still Get Wrong.

Introduction: Why This Season Is a Gift.

Summer is a strange time in business. Everything quietens down—clients go on holiday, inboxes slow, and meetings get postponed. Most business owners see it as a break. I see it as an opportunity.

Because when the noise dies down, you finally get the mental space to think. To zoom out. To ask: Where is this business actually going? And more importantly, what needs to change before we hit Q4?

That’s why summer is one of the smartest times to plan.

Now, before you roll your eyes and think I’m talking about a 40-page business plan that nobody reads, let me reassure you: I’m not. I’m talking about real planning—the kind that sharpens your focus, clarifies your next move, and gives you back control.

There’s a quote I come back to often. Dwight D. Eisenhower said,

“Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”

At first, it sounds contradictory. But he wasn’t dismissing planning—he was saying that the act of planning is more important than the plan itself. Because reality will always shift. Markets change. Competitors pivot. New challenges emerge.

That’s echoed by Karl von Moltke, the 19th-century military strategist, who put it even more bluntly:

“No plan survives first contact with the enemy.”

Both men understood something most business owners miss: you don’t plan to lock in certainty—you plan to prepare your mind. To think ahead. To be adaptable. That’s the real power.

And in a season where most people are coasting? Planning becomes your competitive advantage.

In this blog, I’ll show you:

• Why planning is your most underused tool,
• Why summer is the ideal time to use it,
• And how to make planning simple, effective, and actually usable.

We’ll also look at how you can build your next 90-day plan with me in under 30 minutes, through something I call the Game Plan Accelerator.

Let’s dive in.

1: The Hidden Cost of Always Being in Action.

If You’re Always Moving, You’re Not Thinking.

Let’s be honest—most small business owners are addicted to motion.

You’re constantly doing—chasing leads, replying to emails, managing staff, and solving problems. You’re in the thick of it from the moment your day starts. And because you’re always busy, it feels like you’re making progress.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: being busy is not the same as moving forward.

In fact, I’d argue that one of the biggest threats to a growing business is the illusion of progress. You’re spinning your wheels, putting out fires, saying yes to everything, and convincing yourself you’re getting somewhere. But when you finally stop and take a breath, you realise you haven’t made any meaningful, strategic progress in months.

This is what I call the reactive trap. It’s when you’re so caught up in day-to-day operations that you don’t make time to think, reflect, or course-correct. And the longer you stay in it, the more you drift off track, without even noticing.

The most dangerous part? From the outside, it looks like you’re doing everything right. But inside, you’re stuck. Overwhelmed. And often, one or two bad weeks away from burnout. Planning breaks that cycle.

It’s the one practice that forces you to slow down and think on purpose. It gives you the space to ask:

• What’s actually working?
• What’s draining my time, money, or energy?
• Where do I want to be in 90 days—and what has to change to get there?

Without that pause, you’re just reacting. You’re not leading. And the longer you stay in that state, the more you end up building a business that runs you—instead of the other way around.

That’s why summer is so powerful. It gives you a natural pause—a window where things slow down just enough to let you step back and see clearly again.

So before you fill the quiet weeks with another task list, consider this: 

“The smartest move you could make right now might be to stop and plan.”

2: What Eisenhower Really Meant.

The Plan Will Change—But the Advanced Thinking You’ve Done Will Save You.

Eisenhower’s quote has always stuck with me:

“Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”

At first glance, it feels like a contradiction. Why would someone who orchestrated one of the most complex military operations in history—the D-Day invasion—say that plans are worthless?

Because he understood a critical truth: the value isn’t in the document—it’s in the thinking.

The moment you start planning, you begin thinking more strategically. You assess risks. You anticipate obstacles. You build clarity around what really matters. You prepare your mind—and that’s the real asset.

Because no plan ever survives contact with reality.

That’s why Karl von Moltke—a 19th-century military strategist—famously said:

“No plan survives first contact with the enemy.”

And in business, your “enemy” is rarely another company—it’s uncertainty. It’s shifting market conditions, supply chain issues, customer behaviour changes, team turnover, or a hundred other variables you didn’t see coming. If you expect your plan to hold up perfectly in that environment, you’re going to be disappointed.

But if you’ve done the work of planning, you’ll respond faster, better, and with more clarity than 90% of your competitors.

I’ve seen this happen time and time again. Two businesses hit with the same challenge—maybe a downturn, maybe a lost client, maybe a sudden cash flow crisis. The one that’s been actively planning can pivot within days. They’ve already identified their priorities. They’ve already modelled a few scenarios. They’ve got options.

The other? They’re scrambling. Guessing. Reacting. They’re at the mercy of events rather than being in command of them.

The point isn’t to create a perfect plan. That doesn’t exist. The point is to create the habit of planning—so you’re always mentally ahead of the game.

That’s what 365/90 is built on. You make the best plan you can for the next 90 days. You get moving. You review. You adjust. And because you’ve been thinking strategically from the start, those mid-course changes don’t throw you off—they keep you on track.

So when Eisenhower said “planning is everything,” he meant it literally. The process is the point.

3: Why Summer Is the Ideal Time to Plan.

When the World Slows Down, You Speed Up—Strategically.

There’s a rhythm to business, and summer is one of the few times that rhythm softens.

Your inbox slows. Clients take time off. Suppliers stop chasing. The day-to-day noise dies down just enough to let you breathe. It’s the pause before the final push into the last quarter of the year.

And that’s why it’s the perfect time to plan.

Most business owners treat summer as downtime—mentally switching off, coasting until September rolls around. I get it. You’re tired. You need a break. But here’s the opportunity: while everyone else is pausing, you can be preparing.

Think about it:

• You’ve got space to reflect, without being pulled in ten directions.
• Your calendar is lighter, making it easier to carve out time for real thinking.
• You’re far enough into the year to assess what’s working—and what’s not.
• And you still have 90–120 days left to make meaningful changes before year-end.

If you wait until September to start planning, you’ll already be behind. Because once autumn hits, everything ramps up—sales targets, deadlines, tax season prep, Christmas marketing. If you’re not already in motion by then, you’ll be stuck reacting instead of leading.

I’ve seen businesses use this time to:

• Reposition their offer before Q4.
• Tidy up operations and systems.
• Build out a proper 90-day plan for growth.
• Re-energise the team before the rush.

They finish the year strong because they started preparing when others were winding down. And you don’t need to spend weeks doing it. Even just a couple of focused hours can change the direction of your next quarter.

So instead of just sun loungers and barbecues (which I fully endorse, by the way), block out a morning, get out of your usual environment, and ask yourself the big questions:

• What do I want from the next 90 days?
• What’s not working that I’ve been avoiding?
• What would success look like by the end of the year?

This isn’t about adding more pressure—it’s about using the quiet to create clarity. Because when everyone else is switching off, you could be switching into gear.

4: Planning That Actually Works (Not the Corporate Kind).

Why Most Business Plans Fail—and What to Do Instead.

Let’s be real for a moment—most business plans are a waste of time.

They’re written once, usually when someone’s applying for a loan or ticking a box for an investor, and then forgotten. Fifty pages of charts, projections, and jargon that no one ever reads again. They sit in a drawer or a hard drive gathering dust while the real business happens in the chaos of the day-to-day.

That’s not planning. That’s paperwork.

The kind of planning that actually works is lean, flexible, and designed for execution. It doesn’t try to predict every detail of the future—it helps you respond to the future when it arrives.

And that’s exactly why I created the 365/90 Planning Framework.

It’s not theory. It’s a practical, repeatable rhythm for real business owners who want results—not fluff. Here’s how it works:

1. Start with your 365-day vision.
   This is your big picture. What do you want the business to look like one year from today? Revenue? Customers? Team? Systems? It doesn’t need to be perfect—it just needs to be clear enough to give you direction.
2. Break it down into 90-day sprints.
   This is where the magic happens. You take that big vision and ask: What can I realistically achieve in the next 90 days that moves me toward that goal? These become your quarterly priorities. Not 20 things. Just 2 or 3 high-impact outcomes.
3. Review every 30 days.
   Because no plan survives reality, you check in once a month. What’s working? What’s drifting? What do you need to adjust before it gets out of hand?
4. Stay focused week by week.
   Every week, you decide what matters most. You block time. You review progress. You stay in control. It’s a rhythm—not a rescue mission.

This is how successful business owners work. Not with static documents, but with dynamic thinking. Not with rigid plans, but with clarity, focus, and momentum.

The 365/90 framework helps you lead your business instead of getting lost in it. It gives you the structure to make better decisions, move faster, and stay aligned with your goals—without drowning in details.

And best of all? You don’t need to carve out a whole week to get started. You can build your first 90-day plan in under 30 minutes—with the right guidance.

Which leads us perfectly into the next section…

5: Your Next Step – Build Your Game Plan.

Plan Today. Accelerate Tomorrow.

By now, you can probably see it: planning isn’t a luxury—it’s a multiplier. It gives you focus, confidence, and control in a world that constantly tries to pull you in every direction. But here’s the challenge: you can know all of this… and still not do it.

Why? Because planning—real planning—can feel hard to start. You don’t know where to begin.  You’re not sure what to focus on. And you’re so used to being reactive that sitting still for 30 minutes feels impossible.

That’s why I created the Game Plan Accelerator.

It’s a short, sharp 30-minute session where we sit down (virtually) and build the foundation of your next 90-day plan—together. No fluff. No waffle. Just a clear, focused conversation that turns your scattered ideas into structured momentum.

In just half an hour, we’ll help you:

• Define your core outcome for the next 90 days
• Identify the 2–3 key projects that will move the needle
• Spot and eliminate distractions or low-value tasks
• Leave with a roadmap you can actually stick to

You’ll walk away knowing exactly what to work on, what to ignore, and how to stay on track.

It’s not a coaching call. It’s not a strategy session. It’s a planning intervention to help you stop reacting and start leading again. If summer has given you space, now’s the time to use it.

👉 Book your Game Plan Accelerator session here
Spots are limited each week because these sessions are hands-on, not mass-produced. And remember, the next 90 days will pass regardless of what happens. 

The only question is—will you drift through them, or drive them?