Failure to Plan Is a Plan to Fail

Intro:

I went to my favorite health food store the other day, Whole Foods. I always play this little game where I pretend I’m in competition with everyone else in the store over who has the healthiest shopping cart. (I always win, mainly because I’m extremely health conscious but perhaps a small part is because no one else really knows that they're even playing.)

Anyway, when the cashier scanned my groceries, she said, “Now here’s a man with a plan!” I laughed and replied, “Of course I am.”

What she said made me think about the many conversations I’ve had with people about their health and wellness goals, and the one key thing so many of them overlook. Those conversations often go something like this:

Person: “I’ve really been trying to get healthier lately.”

Me: “Nice! What type of changes are you making?”

Person: “Well, I’m trying to eat better and exercise more.”

Me: “What do you mean by “eat better?” What does that look like?”

Person: “Um… I skip breakfast sometimes, try to eat a salad for lunch, and I’m trying this new diet my friend is on.”

Me: “I see. And the gym? What do you do there?”

Person: “Oh, I just wander around and do whatever feels good. Maybe some machines, maybe a little treadmill.”

Me: “I see.”

When I walk away from these conversations, one of the biggest things I always notice is that it’s the same people telling me the same story, year after year. I’m sure you know a few people like this… or maybe you’re one of them. But they all share one thing in common. One thing they consistently lack. One thing that would change everything for them. And that thing is….a plan. More specifically, a plan for success.

Reflection:

Success in anything does not happen by accident. The couple with a strong relationship didn’t just “get lucky.” The CEO of a leading company didn’t just wake up one morning in that leadership position. The person who built a thriving business didn’t just stumble into it. You know this. We all do. It’s simple logic.

Actually, I would say it’s more than simple logic. It’s a universal truth: great outcomes demand great intention. Period.

Yet strangely, when it comes to health, arguably the one thing a person cannot outsource, return, or replace, people abandon this logic completely. They ignore and disrespect this “law of the universe”. They rely on hope. They rely on “trying.” They rely on vague ideas that sound like effort but have no real strategy behind them. And then they wonder why nothing changes.

Let me be blunt for a moment: For example, if you want to lose significant weight you will never wake up one morning, look in the mirror, and say, “Oops, I lost fifty pounds,” That is a change that doesn’t arrive through luck. It arrives because you made a deliberate choice and backed it with structure.

People want change, but they also want to skip the part that actually creates it… the plan.

People think they can just “start eating better.” But what does that mean? Better than what? Compared to who? With what goal, what structure, what metrics?

People say they’ll “go to the gym more,” but without a plan, the gym becomes a place of confusion, not growth. The truth is you cannot guess your way through diet and exercise, the complexity of your body will always demand more than simple guesswork.

Because without a plan, you don’t just become inefficient… you create risk. Real risk. The risk of nutritional deficiencies, hormonal imbalances, metabolic damage, and potential injuries that can set you back far more than you realize.

And that’s just the physical cost. There’s a mental toll as well.

When you go into your health journey blind, you don’t just fail to make progress, you start to believe you’re the failure. That you’re broken. That something is wrong with you. Years of “trying” without the right approach chips away at your self-trust. At your confidence. At what you believe is possible for you. Ultimately, it erodes your self-belief and the very foundation of how you see yourself and your potential.

You start saying things like: “I’ve tried losing weight but it’s just so hard.” “I’ve literally done everything.”

But let’s be honest, you haven’t done everything. You’ve just done everything except follow a real plan. Of course it’s hard when you’re doing the wrong things. Of course it’s frustrating when you’re improvising instead of improving. Of course it feels impossible when you’re operating without direction.

Getting healthier is actually far simpler than people think but you have to know how. And if you don’t know how, you hire someone who does. Someone who understands the body, the process, the strategy. Someone who removes the guesswork so your effort finally leads somewhere.

If you’re still not convinced that you need a plan for success then simply remember this: choosing nothing is still a choice, inaction is still an action, and failure to plan is still a plan, it just so happens that it’s a plan to fail. And most people are following that plan perfectly. Don’t be one of them.

So the question to ask is this: Is your plan specifically designed to move you forward, or is it quietly guiding you toward the same cycle of frustration you’ve lived in for years?

If the answer isn’t crystal clear… then neither is the direction you’re heading

So plan accordingly.

Action:

Follow these steps in order:

1. Define your goal with absolute clarity.
Not “get healthier.” Not “lose weight.” Write down exactly what you want. The number, the feeling, the outcome, the timeline. If your goal isn’t specific, your plan can’t be either.

2. Acknowledge that wanting change is not enough.
Take a moment to accept that effort without structure is just motion, not progress. Sit with the truth that you’ve been trying for years but without a plan to anchor your actions.

3. Hire a professional who already knows the path you’re trying to navigate.
If you’ve spent months or years trying to figure it out alone, give yourself permission to stop guessing. A coach provides structure, clarity, direction, and removes the years of frustration that come from doing it blindly. Investing in guidance is not weakness; it’s wisdom.

Take the next step:

If you’re ready to stop guessing and start following a real plan, I can guide you. Apply for health and wellness coaching and get the structure you need and deserve.

And if you’re a man reading this, you can also apply to join The Intentional Man, an online men’s group with a plan for discipline, purpose, and accountability.