ABSTRACT
There’s a dry cleaners about ten minutes from where I live, and they have a marquee out in front. But instead of displaying something like, “Tuesday’s Special-Shirts Laundered & Ironed-99¢ ea.,” they display words of wisdom. It was always interesting to drive by and read the platitude-of-the-week. Then one day, a few years ago, I was driving by, and the marquee read, Life will not go according to plan if you have no plan. To me, this wasn’t the usual fortune cookie type of advice; it really struck a chord. Oh, I had been to seminars and read books that touted the importance of setting goals, but until this moment, I hadn’t personally related this advice to my life. How often and for how many years had I let circumstances dictate my jobs and my career? Too long. And how often was I disappointed over an outcome I could have had more control over? Too many times. How often had I sat down and really made a plan for myself? Seldom. Why? Because in such an unpredictable business, I didn’t know I could. For someone who considers herself to be fairly intelligent, I’m not sure why it took driving by a wordsof-wisdom-touting dry cleaners to make me understand that even in this industry, there is power in planning and setting goals.
