Success in Two Steps: Make a Plan Then Work the Plan
- Thomas Koehl
- May 22
- 2 min read
Success is not some mysterious force reserved for the chosen few. It is not a lightning strike. It is not luck wrapped in a lottery ticket. It is two very simple things that most people already know but rarely put into consistent motion.
Make a plan. Work the plan.
That is it. That is the secret.
Of course, we could dress it up with buzzwords or wrap it in a thousand self-help pages, but it really boils down to this: clarity and commitment.
Step One: Make a Good Plan
Not just any plan. A good one. A plan that is rooted in reality, focused on specific outcomes, and built with enough flexibility to absorb a few wrong turns without blowing up the whole mission.
A good plan doesn’t need to be fancy. It just needs to be:
Clear enough that you can explain it in a sentence
Grounded enough that it doesn’t rely on ideal conditions
Specific enough to guide your daily actions
If your plan needs a whiteboard, a flowchart, and a decoder ring, you may be overcomplicating the obvious. Start small. Define what success looks like for you. Outline the steps. Know your timeline. Identify what resources you need. That is it. A map, not a masterpiece.
Step Two: Work the Plan
Here’s where things fall apart for most people. You made the plan, and that was fun. Now comes the part that is not fun but actually matters.
Working the plan is about consistency. Not intensity. You do not need to sprint. You need to show up, every day, and take one step forward. Then another. Then another. It is not exciting, but it is effective.
Here’s the hard truth: You will not always feel like working the plan. Feelings are Stick to the calendar.
You do not need to be perfect. You just need to keep going. Miss a day? That is fine. Get back on track. One bad day does not cancel a good plan unless you quit.
Why Most People Fail
They wing it. They make the plan but never look at it again. They get distracted by shiny new ideas. They confuse movement with progress.
Making a good plan is not hard. Working it every day is.
Want Better Results?
Start with a better plan. Then work it. No shortcuts. Just two things done well.
Comments