Post by Ausprep on Jul 25, 2014 19:05:42 GMT 10
Great, simple article.
Source: guerrillamerica.com/2014/07/why-we-plan/
This is just a quick note to remind everyone of why we plan and why we write things down. In class and elsewhere on the net in regards to a few of my articles, I hear a lot of responses like this: Oh, I’m just going to play it by ear. Planning takes too much time and I have to spend too much time thinking about things. I’m a pretty intuitive person so I’m just going to go with my gut. I can read people/make quick decisions when they count so I think I’ll be okay.
This line of thinking goes back to illusory superiority. Humans tend to overestimate their abilities and fool themselves into thinking they are more skilled than they are. We all know the sayings, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” and “Proper prior planning prevents poor performance,” and “Perfect practice makes perfect.”
When planning for Operations Security (OPSEC), or identifying our Early Warning Indicators, or planning for elicitation to gather intelligence information from human sources, we may need hours’ worth of planning for something that could take as little as thirty minutes or an hour. The more complex the environment and mission, the more planning and attention to detail it requires.
Planning and putting the mission first is the first thing that separates professionals from amateurs. When we plan or train, unless we have a specific mission in mind, we’re really just playing. If you’re training with no goals or objectives, then you’re really just treading water. So when we plan, we must write things down that accomplish our objective. We write down our plans for a few reasons.
One, we write things down so that we know we’re covering all the bases. Prepping for post-SHTF is complex stuff. We can’t be like Steve Spurrier at half-time saying, “Well, in the second half we just need to score more points than them. If we can do that, then we’ll win.” That’s a great objective but it’s not a plan. Planning needs to be detailed. If we’re missing details, then we’re setting ourselves up for failure. Writing these details down is a great way for us to identify and account for gaps in our planning.
Two, we write things down so that we can train our peers and group members. They need to know the game plan; they need to know what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. Today we’re spending an hour talking about our plans if the local municipal water is compromised. If no one can drink the water, then we’re looking at hundreds or thousands or hundreds of thousands of folks without water. How big is the problem and what will our plan be? Once we look at that situation, then we can start to prepare for that and similar events. Once we’ve decided what we’re doing, then we write it down and distribute it to the group. Then we do the same process for grid-down, riots/civil unrest, terrorist attack, martial law, or whatever other events for which you need to plan.
Three, we write things down because we’re less likely to forget them. Writing things down also holds us accountable. Read any book on goals or goal setting, and they all say the same thing: write down your goals. If you don’t write down that you’re going to lose 20 pounds by Thanksgiving, then it’s unlikely to happen. If you don’t write down that you’re going to ruck five miles a week, then it’s unlikely to happen. If you don’t write down that you’re going to spend three hours with your prepper group rehearsing how to elicit information from emergency responders to gain more information than just what’s being published, then it’s unlikely to happen.
So whatever you’re doing, especially for the purposes of intelligence gathering and analysis, write down your findings. Write down your intelligence requirements, or what other information you’re lacking. Write down a “due-outs” list so that you know what needs to be completed by the end of the planning session. Start your planning with some simple objectives, write them down and then knock them out.
Source: guerrillamerica.com/2014/07/why-we-plan/
This is just a quick note to remind everyone of why we plan and why we write things down. In class and elsewhere on the net in regards to a few of my articles, I hear a lot of responses like this: Oh, I’m just going to play it by ear. Planning takes too much time and I have to spend too much time thinking about things. I’m a pretty intuitive person so I’m just going to go with my gut. I can read people/make quick decisions when they count so I think I’ll be okay.
This line of thinking goes back to illusory superiority. Humans tend to overestimate their abilities and fool themselves into thinking they are more skilled than they are. We all know the sayings, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” and “Proper prior planning prevents poor performance,” and “Perfect practice makes perfect.”
When planning for Operations Security (OPSEC), or identifying our Early Warning Indicators, or planning for elicitation to gather intelligence information from human sources, we may need hours’ worth of planning for something that could take as little as thirty minutes or an hour. The more complex the environment and mission, the more planning and attention to detail it requires.
Planning and putting the mission first is the first thing that separates professionals from amateurs. When we plan or train, unless we have a specific mission in mind, we’re really just playing. If you’re training with no goals or objectives, then you’re really just treading water. So when we plan, we must write things down that accomplish our objective. We write down our plans for a few reasons.
One, we write things down so that we know we’re covering all the bases. Prepping for post-SHTF is complex stuff. We can’t be like Steve Spurrier at half-time saying, “Well, in the second half we just need to score more points than them. If we can do that, then we’ll win.” That’s a great objective but it’s not a plan. Planning needs to be detailed. If we’re missing details, then we’re setting ourselves up for failure. Writing these details down is a great way for us to identify and account for gaps in our planning.
Two, we write things down so that we can train our peers and group members. They need to know the game plan; they need to know what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. Today we’re spending an hour talking about our plans if the local municipal water is compromised. If no one can drink the water, then we’re looking at hundreds or thousands or hundreds of thousands of folks without water. How big is the problem and what will our plan be? Once we look at that situation, then we can start to prepare for that and similar events. Once we’ve decided what we’re doing, then we write it down and distribute it to the group. Then we do the same process for grid-down, riots/civil unrest, terrorist attack, martial law, or whatever other events for which you need to plan.
Three, we write things down because we’re less likely to forget them. Writing things down also holds us accountable. Read any book on goals or goal setting, and they all say the same thing: write down your goals. If you don’t write down that you’re going to lose 20 pounds by Thanksgiving, then it’s unlikely to happen. If you don’t write down that you’re going to ruck five miles a week, then it’s unlikely to happen. If you don’t write down that you’re going to spend three hours with your prepper group rehearsing how to elicit information from emergency responders to gain more information than just what’s being published, then it’s unlikely to happen.
So whatever you’re doing, especially for the purposes of intelligence gathering and analysis, write down your findings. Write down your intelligence requirements, or what other information you’re lacking. Write down a “due-outs” list so that you know what needs to be completed by the end of the planning session. Start your planning with some simple objectives, write them down and then knock them out.