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The Power of Planning: Authentic Strategy for Delivery of Possibilities (Part 1)
By Tolulope A. Adegoke
‘Planning is winning, just as breathing is living. Those who do not seat to study today should not expect to become Masters tomorrow. So, seat on your job; never depend on father’s inheritance or you offer yourself over to poverty. Your Work is what determines your WORTH, not what people think about you.’ – Bishop David O. Oyedepo
Planning is so vital to any man’s life and as well to any business endeavours. It is planning that gives value to PURPOSE. Purpose is dead without a PLAN.
It is planning that empowers PURPOSE to deliver. Purpose is impotent without a PLAN!
A farmer that does not plan will be a failure, because in farming endeavours, you need to plan your planting season, the various operations before and after the planting season otherwise, you will just be doing everything b anyhow (that is without a guide), then end up in frustration. Apostle Paul in the Scripture said, ‘I have watered, Apollo watered, but God brings the INCREASE!
There must be planting PLAN in place. If you want the best out of it, you must as well engage in the Watering Plan to be sure that in case the rain fail, you will be sure that there is a way to get water to your plants in case the rain fails, so you can get your harvest.
Every building begins with a plan; you need a plan for any building of any value. Any building that holds any value requires a plan. The construction of any great building requires a plan. Hebrews 3:4 reveals that ‘For every house is built by some men, but he that built all things is God.’
Sometimes, we hear people say, we have built this business- this connotes that a business is also in form of a buildings, and it requires a plan (that is, a business plan). There must be a plan!
A Management theory was postulated by Bishop David Oyedepo, that: ‘You do not grow big to manage well, but you manage well to grow big.’ So businesses that will be big tomorrow will be seen today through the quality of the structural plan that is engaged. You get to know a better tomorrow right from today.
Most businesses today are victims of lack of plan or poor planning. There is no differentiating procedure between the Capital and the Income (Profit), because everything had been mobbed together, thinking that by the time their investment becomes bigger, they would be able to organize their business formats (proceeds).
“You do not need to have an account to be accountable! You only need strategic plannings to maximize your business endeavours. If you are not futuristic in your approach, you cannot earn a future!’- Bishop David Oyedepo
This isn’t about mere planning, but making futuristic planning. It is good management culture that guarantees good results. Whatever farm that is not properly managed is bound to fail; the quality of seed notwithstanding. Good management is key to the good fruit yielding capacity of any farm. The quality of management is what determines the quality of results. Therefore, management skill is key to determining the level of results that any organization could ever command. Just as you are aware that life not well managed will be wasted; time not well managed will be wasted; energy not well managed will be wasted. So, everything that is to grow must be well managed. Praying without planning is playing without knowing; and planning without programing is like playing in the woods (that is, lost in the wilderness); And programing without pursuit is like dinning with the dead. That is why it is said repeatedly that EXPLOIT is EXPENSIVE! So, from Purpose you must move into PLANNING, and from Planning, you section your PLANS into TIME-SLOTS and then, to SET GOALS! And them, the Pursuit begins- It is a POWER CYCLE!
PURPOSE-PLANNING-PROGRAMME-PURSUIT-RESULTS
You must continue the above processes till you draw your last breath. Prayer alone (I think) will make you a burden to God; it is Prayer with Planning that makes you a co-labourer with God. Your daily ‘give-me’ prayers bores God, but when you engage in planning with your prayers, you become co-labourer with God.
Proverbs 24:3-5 (KJV) reveals that: ‘Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding, it is filled with all manner of precious and pleasant riches.’
Amplified Version reveals: ‘Every enterprise is built by wise planning, and becomes strong through common sense and profits wonderfully, extra-ordinarily by keeping abreast of the facts.’
The future of every business (enterprise), therefore is at the mercy of very wise planning and a Common-sense Execution Programme of the plan, engaging all available facts. The above defines planning in our various business or daily endeavours.
Every enterprise is built by wise planning, it becomes better through the use of Common sense and profits wonderfully by keeping abreast of the facts. That is why it is needful to always consult resource materials in your facts hunting crave; and from there you are able to locate facts, relevant for your planning processes. It is the facts at your disposal that determines the quality of your planning process. When you give your house to an unprofessional, you should not expect the same result you would get from professional architect. Because of the facts available to at his disposal would know that needs to allow natural lightening to every space, he needs to mind ventilation at all cost, also, he will not be pushed by the clients to deliver unprofessionally, due to the fact that his reputation is at stake. So, it is your intellectual capacity, through consistent access to facts that determines the quality of your plan.
The Book of Proverbs 15:22 reveals that: ‘You need INSIGHTS for your Purposes not to be disappointed!
Counsel is the process of knowing the way to go, having clarity and intelligent path towards accomplishing your set-goal. Only those who take time to seat well and strategize today would shine tomorrow. Proverbs 19:21 further reveals that: ‘Where there is no planning, purpose is bound to be defeated. Failing to plan is simply planning to fail! The goal of any business will remain unattainable without strategic planning. Dreams are aborted without planning!
Planning is the secret behind the fulfilment of dreams, therefore, of a truth, strategic planning is winning; it is the Master-key to enviable accomplishments.
WHAT THEN IS PLANNING?
A lot of people dabble into businesses without having prior knowledge of any management principles. The anointing gets wasted because there is no way to collate the output of the anointing. It is like having a drum full of petrol and you have and you have a hole porched in it; it is a matter of time before you know it the petrol would have dripped off via the hole drained. Planning therefore, is the cheapest way to avert wastage!
Energy, Time, Unction can all be wasted when there is no proper plan in place. So, planning is a way of conserving energy. Planning reliefs you of tensions. It is planning that empowers PURPOSE for very gallant delivery.
- Planning is the design of a step by step approach to accomplishing a set-goal.
- It is the ordering of one’s priority in a bid to accomplishing given task.
- It is a process of action in a quest to fulfil a dream, that is, you seat down to design a set of activities that will help you to accomplish a given task. You have to sit down to do it.
No one succeed by accident. It’s been said by somebody that Success is a matter of luck, as any failure. Why are some people said to be lucky? It is because they have a sharper plan. Shallow men think of luck, but great men think of cause and effect. Zig-Ziglar said: ‘any dummy can succeed, if he cares to know what it takes.’ Therefore, it takes sound planning to make a success of your business endeavours.
WHAT MAKES A GREAT PLAN?
If you want a great product, you must understand the best raw materials for it.
What is that makes a great plan?
To answer the above, we must understand the best raw materials for what makes great plan. We must understand that no one reigns without the use of the brain. It is the use of the brain that establishes the reign of a man.
Every gain is a result of the use of the brain. It is the use of the senses that makes a star. If planning is designing a logical and rational approach towards accomplishing a given task or a goal, then we can tell what the raw materials are. It is THINKING or REASONING!
Reasoning is the principal raw material for very sound planning. And to reason, is to engage in the task of logical, rational and analytical thinking.
Every great planner, must be a great thinker. It is great thinking that makes great planning, because the principal raw materials required for sound planning is REASONING (that is, Strategic Thinking).
Adegoke, CEO of Beyond Media Consults, is a writer, keynote speaker, and poet. He has a wealth of countless articles. He can be reached on 08065088631 or adegoketolulope1022@gmail.com
A federal judge in the United States, on Thursday, put a temporary block on President Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship.
The ruling imposes a 14-day halt on the enforcement of one of the most controversial executive orders Trump signed hours after being sworn into office for a second term.
It comes after lawsuits were filed by a total of 22 states, two cities and numerous civil rights groups.
“This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” senior US District Judge John Coughenour was reported as saying during the hearing in Washington State.
“I’ve been on the bench for over four decades, I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one is,” said Coughenour, who was appointed to the bench by a Republican president, Ronald Reagan.
Birthright citizenship is fundamental to America’s national identity, with the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution decreeing that anyone born on US soil is a citizen.
It says, in part: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
Trump’s order was premised on the idea that anyone in the US illegally, or on a visa, was not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the country, and therefore excluded from this category.
AFP
The Court of Appeal sitting in Akure, Ondo State capital has upheld the death sentence of Ramon Adedoyin, a prominent businessman and hotelier, for his involvement in the murder of one Timothy Adegoke, a former postgraduate student of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State.
Delivering the judgment on Thursday, the court affirmed the earlier verdict of the Osun State High Court, which had sentenced Adedoyin to death.
“The judgment of the High Court of Osun State stands. Adedoyin’s appeal is dismissed in part,” the court declared in part.
The Court of Appeal, however, set aside some aspects of the lower court’s orders, including the forfeiture of the Hilton Hotel and the order for Adedoyin to pay for the education of Adegoke’s children.
Furthermore, the court ruled that it had no jurisdiction to impose penalties outside the statutory provisions
Adegoke’s death was reported in November 2021 after his corpse was found at the Hilton Honours Hotel in Ile-Ife, Osun State, where he had lodged.
The hotelier had travelled from Abuja for an examination at a distance learning centre in Moro, Osun State on November 5 of that year.
He had checked into the hotel but was reported missing after two days. However, Adegoke’s body was found days later, leading to a probe that linked his death to Adedoyin and others.
In May 2023, Adedoyin and others were sentenced to death after they were found guilty of murder and conspiracy to murder.
But dissatisfied with the judgement, Adedoyin approached the Appeal court to dismiss the sentence and conviction.
The court of appeal, on Thursday, however, upheld the conviction and death sentence of the hotelier.
The Nigeria Police have announced that their operatives have rescued Mrs Folasade Odumosu, the wife of a former Assistant Inspector General, Hakeem Odumosu, who was last Thursday, kidnapped at the entrance of her home in Arepo, Ogun State.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, confirmed this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja, noting that two of the kidnappers were killed while four others escaped without their weapons.
Adejobi said with the support of the Force Headquarters technical intelligence platforms, the Ogun State police operatives engaged Odumosu’s abductors in a gun duel and neutralized the criminals in the swampy area of Ikorodu on Wednesday.
The police spokesman added that Mrs Odumosu is currently undergoing a medical evaluation and has since been reunited with her family.
The statement read, “In a commendable display of teamwork and swift action, police operatives attached to the Ogun State Command have successfully neutralized the kidnappers of Mrs. Odumosu, wife of Retired Assistant-Inspector General, AIG Hakeem Odumosu, and rescued her unharmed.
“On January 16, 2025, at approximately 9:45 PM, four masked gunmen forcibly abducted Mrs. Odumosu from her Lexus Jeep outside her residence in Arepo, Ogun State. The abduction sparked an immediate response from the anti-kidnapping unit of the Ogun State Police Command, who commenced a thorough investigation and targeted pursuit of the kidnappers.
“With the support of the Force Headquarters technical intelligence platforms, the Ogun State police operatives engaged in extensive surveillance of the creeks surrounding Arepo, gathering crucial information to track down the assailants. Their efforts culminated in a raid on January 23, 2025, at around 06:45 AM. The intelligence-led operation took the police to a creek in the swampy area of Ikorodu, where the kidnappers were reportedly planning their next attack.
“Upon arrival, the operatives encountered the kidnappers, who opened fire. In the ensuing confrontation, two of the gunmen were neutralized, while four others fled the scene, abandoning their operational weapons.”
Adejobi said the police operatives recovered N10m initially paid to the kidnappers, four Ak-47 rifles, three locally made single barrel rifles, and ammunition of various calibres.
He added, “The victim, Mrs Odumosu was rescued within the swampy creeks during the operation, unharmed. She is currently undergoing medical evaluation as a precautionary measure and has since been reunited with her family. The police also recovered 4 Ak-47 rifles, 3 locally made single barrel rifles, ammunition of various calibres, and the sum of N10,000,000 ransom previously demanded by the kidnappers, further ensuring that justice is served.”
Adejobi said the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, commended the police operatives and the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Lanre Ogunlowo, for the rescue operation.
He asserted that the Police Force is committed to safeguarding the citizens and combat kidnapping and other violent crimes.
“The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, Ph.D., NPM., has commended the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, CP Lanre Ogunlowo, and his operatives for their displayed gallantry in this successful operation.
“This operation exemplifies the dedication and resilience of our Police officers. The Nigeria Police Force remains steadfast in its mission to combat kidnapping and other violent crimes, providing safety and security to all citizens,” he added.
