“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin
Franklin collected many aphorisms in his Old Farmer’s Almanac. Freeing a country from under the powerful arm of a great power is going to take some planning, which Franklin knew was the first step towards success.
MerriamWebster online states four definitions for the term plan. Duden, the famous German dictionary, offers almost the exact same definitions. We’re interested in the second definition: “a detailed formulation of a program of action.”
1. A drawing or diagram drawn on a plane: such as a top or horizontal view of an object, a large-scale map of a small area.
2. A method for achieving an end, an often customary method of doing something, a detailed formulation of a program of action.
3. An orderly arrangement of parts of an overall design or objective.
4. A detailed program (as for payment or the provision of some service), i.e. pension plan.
“Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all is a form of planning.” – Gloria Steinem
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” – Abraham Lincoln
No president had to face as great a challenge as Abraham Lincoln. Never neglect the time and effort necessary for due diligence before action.
The validity of a plan (validity) cannot be taken for granted and taken for granted. A plan is merely an abstract depiction or model of the reality to be expected in successive steps, which moreover still has to be designed over time. Therefore, as for all models, the planning reflects a simplified image of the expected future reality.
Die Gültigkeit einer Planung (Validität) kann nicht als gegeben und selbstverständlich angenommen werden. Eine Planung ist lediglich eine abstrakte Abbildung oder ein Modell der in aufeinanderfolgenden Schritten zu erwarteten Realität, die zudem im weiteren Zeitablauf noch zu gestalten ist. Daher gilt wie für alle Modelle, dass die Planung ein vereinfachendes Abbild der erwarteten künftigen Realität wiedergibt.
“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“If you take on a lot, you can also fail a lot.” Mark Twain (1835-1910)
“Making plans and making resolutions brings with it much good feeling, and he who has the strength to be nothing but a plan-maker all his life will be a very happy man. But he will occasionally have to rest from this activity, in that he executes a plan — and then comes the anger and disillusionment.”
Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher (1844 – 1900)
“Pläne machen und Vorsätze fassen bringt viel gute Empfindungen mit sich, und wer die Kraft hätte, sein ganzes Leben lang nichts als ein Pläne-Schmiedender zu sein, wäre ein sehr glücklicher Mensch: Aber er wird sich gelegentlich von dieser Tätigkeit ausruhen müssen, dadurch dass er einen Plan ausführt — und da kommt der Ärger und die Ernüchterung.”
“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” – Warren Buffett
Salvete! DW Travel host Lukas Stege follows in the Romans’ footsteps through Germany. Accompany him on his journey along the līmes – the border between the Roman Empire and Germany – from Cologne to the Saalburg, a reconstructed Roman fort close to Frankfurt.