You've got to love it when a plan comes together, and there's nothing more amusing when it doesn't.
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I say amusing because to describe it otherwise might invite criticism about what might have been a bad plan in the first place.
Regardless of that, when things don't turn out the way you plan, you naturally find yourself trying to pinpoint the moment when your plan might have gone off the rails.
And often it can be that moment when you decided to follow the plan.
You just didn't know it at the time because you were too busy sticking to the plan.
Of course hindsight is 20/20, and everyone knows 50-50 aren't great odds on which to move forward.
But still you did, because at that stage, the plan looked like a safe bet what with its central focus on success.
Looking back you might realise the plan had issues.
The ultimate one being perhaps - failure.
Socceroos coach Graham Arnold knows a bit about this at the moment.
Indeed poor planning outcomes like Australia's bid to qualify for the World Cup, thus far, can lead to an aversion to planning.
Like planning to not watch Australia's next qualifying games. They are hard to watch at the best of times.
Having said that, failing to plan is planning to fail.
And even though it looks like that's what the Socceroos are planning to do at the moment, doesn't mean you don't keep your chin up.
Because, you know, there's always hope.
The key to dusting yourself off after planning setbacks is to hope past results are't indicators of future performance.
Like they are for so many other things.
Indomitable self-belief can be a delicate exercise in that way.
This eternal truth came into focus in our house recently when someone entrusted us to look after something valuable while they were away.
When I say recently, I mean about ten years ago.
Our plan was to put it somewhere safe where no-one could ever find it.
The plan turned out more successful than we could ever have planned because we couldn't remember where we put it.
Thus the valuable item remained in our safe-keeping for nearly a decade.
Luckily the item was something the entrusting person didn't need or want back urgently.
You can't give back what you can't remember where you put.
Looking back it was clear our plan ran off the rails the moment we didn't factor in that thing essential to all plans - a back-up plan.
In this case, a reminder where we stashed the item.
In the absence of Plan B, Plan C involved waiting about ten years until one day, while searching for batteries, I stumbled on the item.
Like I said, you gotta love it when a plan comes together.