on the infinite difficulty of maintaining a plan

“When an operation has finally been completed it all looks so easy,

but so few people ever realize the infinite difficulties

of maintaining an object or a plan

and refusing to be driven off it by other people

for a thousand good reasons!”

Alanbrooke War Diaries 1939-1945: Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke

The above quote was written by the CIGS in his diaries following the Casablanca conference, and it summarizes that immense difficulty of sticking to a certain plan when there are so many alternatives, repeatedly being introduced. 

 

When psychologist Barry Schwartz talks about the paradox of choice, he describes the same challenge in modern terms of psychology, which might be more relatable to people not being history aficionados such as myself. But the bottom line of the quote and the lecture are similar:

This might be one of the challenges of this day and age - having too many options, suffering from an endless, minute to minute FOMO may be a burden that is constantly hurting the quality of decision making and planning, and in the words of Alan Brooke, might have drive us of course for a thousand good reasons.