Changemakers: 5 Good Reasons to Make a Plan for 2016

By Solène Pignet
With 2015 soon drawing to a close, many impact entrepreneurs and fellow changemakers are looking back to check what has been achieved, and what’s missing.

• Did you achieve everything you hoped to this year?


• Do you know what can you do to make even more progress toward your mission next year?

You have two options: wait and see what 'happens' ... or take action and plan to make it happen! Here are five reasons why you should go for the second option.

1. Impact happens on purpose

I am sure you experience this every single week of your entrepreneurial journey: Nothing happens unless you work on it to happen.

Of course, there is a part of chance and unexpected partnerships spicing things up, but the truth is: What you do and how you communicate about it is what is attracting those opportunities to you.

Getting clear on what kind of impact you want to create, and what you need for that to happen (even if not everything is in your hands), is key. It makes it much easier to attract the right opportunities and focus on the actions that will lead you to where you want to go.

2. Planning is not only reserved for launch

Look back and remember how much you used to plan before launching your social enterprise. Okay, maybe you even planned too much -- as it was a good excuse to procrastinate on actually getting started. Maybe at the time you had difficulties to forecast what would actually happen, and your “plan” became obsolete quite rapidly … but you did make a plan, didn’t you?!

Defining a vision, setting goals and identifying key actions are part of the entrepreneur’s job -- and not only before launching! Now that you have already (some) experience, you can use all those new information to make an even more effective plan!

3. Planning allows you to take a step back from your daily challenges

As an impact entrepreneur, it is easy to get caught into the daily multitasking and problem-solving. It's so easy that we all tend to procrastinate on important yet not-that-urgent things.

Taking a time to work on your business is as important as the things you can do when working in your business.

The end of the year is a good excuse to take this necessary step back.

4. Planning is not just about the future; it is also a celebration of today

When you take a step back to plan your next year, you also look back at what you already achieved -- and that is a great opportunity to celebrate!

How many times a year do you take a break from your challenges and actually look at what’s going well? Not just the big wins and amazing opportunities, but also the smaller challenges that you resolved, the tiny changes that led to a big improvements, the qualitative impact you’ve created beyond the numbers.

Yes, planning is not just “making a plan," but also an opportunity to re-boost your confidence by celebrating what has already been achieved, and set even brighter, bolder goals to move forward.

5. Planning is like using a GPS: It allows you to go the extra mile

• Who uses a GPS in his own neighborhood? Probably only my mom (sorry, mom ;) ).


• Who does not use a GPS when going to a far away, unknown place? The people who end up getting lost and waste time asking around.

If you wanna stay inside your comfort zone, and if you are happy with the impact you created so far, do just that again next year. Fine. Don’t plan, you already know what to do.

But if you want to challenge yourself, if you are the kind of person who likes to go the extra mile, push the limits and go out of his comfort zone, then go for it! Planning is what will secure your step forward.

Now, does it mean you won’t get lost? Does it mean “the lady” won’t say “turn left now” in the middle of the brand new highway? No, that is for sure still going to happen. But at least you will have maximized your chances to go as fast and as far as you can!

Image credit: no attribution, COO licence, source : pexels.com/planning

Solène is a globetrotter, committed to sustainable development and passionate about alternative entrepreneurship. She founded Creators for Good in 2014. She provides online consulting services to (aspiring) entrepreneurs willing to make a difference in the world.

She is also the co-host of The Global #SocEnt Lab, an online community accelerating collaborations between social entrepreneurs around the world.