Your Plan Hit a Wall. Now What?

Welcome to Wednesday. Safe moves are officially off the table.

You had a plan.

It made sense.

You knew the steps.

You knew the timeline.

And then something broke.

A deadline slipped.

A partner backed out.

The money didn't come through.

The launch got delayed.

The person you were counting on said no.

Now what?

What happens to your goal when your plan fails?

That question has been very real for me this week.

The Brazen Code launches next week.

But not exactly the way I planned.

My plan was to release the audiobook, ebook, and paperback together.

That isn't going to happen.

We've encountered several obstacles with the book's layout, so the ebook and paperback need more time.

The audiobook doesn't.

So I had a decision to make:

Do I delay everything because one part isn't ready?

Or do I move forward with what is?

You can probably guess which one I chose.

The audiobook of The Brazen Code launches next week.

The ebook and paperback will follow when they're ready.

Because I've been reminded of something important:

A failed plan is not the same thing as a failed goal.

There is a difference between protecting the quality of the work and waiting for ideal conditions.

The ebook and paperback need more time.

I'm giving them more time.

That's not hesitation. That's maintaining the standard.

But the audiobook is ready.

Holding it back simply because the rest of the plan changed wouldn't make the other formats better.

It would just keep something that's ready from moving.

And I think we do this in ways that have nothing to do with publishing books.

One piece falls behind.

One person says no.

One deadline gets missed.

One assumption turns out to be wrong.

And suddenly, we're treating a change in the plan like a change in the goal.

They're not the same thing.

The plan is how you thought you would get there.

The goal is where you're going.

Don't give the plan more power than the goal.

Think about one thing you want that isn't going according to plan.

Now ask yourself three questions:

What is the actual goal?

Strip away the timeline, the method, and the version you pictured in your head.

What are you actually trying to make happen?

What part of my original plan isn't working?

Get specific.

Not:

Everything is falling apart.

What, exactly, hit the wall?

Then ask:

Maybe you can't launch the entire business yet, but you can start selling one service.

Maybe you can't make the hire yet, but you can bring in a contractor.

Maybe the person you hoped would make the introduction hasn't, but you can make the ask yourself.

Maybe you can't leave the job tomorrow, but you can start building income you control today.

Maybe the opportunity you were counting on disappeared, but the relationship you built through it is still worth deepening.

The plan was one route.

It was never the destination.

I'm living the proof right now.

My original launch plan isn't happening.

But my goal was never:

Release three formats of a book on exactly the same day.

The goal is bigger than that.

Get The Brazen Code into the ears, hands, conversations, and lives of women who are ready to practice it.

I can start doing that next week.

So why wouldn't I?

And there's another side to this.

I'm not rushing the ebook and paperback out simply to preserve an arbitrary launch plan.

They need more work.

They're getting more work.

Moving forward doesn't require moving everything forward at once.

That's the distinction.

Being Brazen doesn't mean forcing something forward before it's ready.

Sometimes the powerful move is waiting.

Sometimes it's revising.

Sometimes it's saying:

This isn't ready yet.

And sometimes it's realizing that one delayed piece has somehow become permission to delay everything.

That's the moment to move.

Plans are useful.

But reality doesn't owe us cooperation.

Timelines change.

Resources change.

People change.

Information changes.

Obstacles show up that you couldn't see when you made the plan.

Your power isn't in making sure none of that happens.

Your power is in deciding what you do when it does.

This is Be Brazen in practice.

Not recklessness.

Not lowering the standard.

Not pretending the obstacle doesn't exist.

It's acting on what you know instead of allowing a disrupted plan to become another reason to hesitate.

Right now, I know two things:

The audiobook is ready.

The ebook and paperback aren't.

Both can be true.

So one moves now.

The others move when they're ready.

Your situation might look completely different.

But the question is the same:

What can still move?

Brazen Law reinforced: Don't confuse a delay with a stop sign.

What are you delaying because one part of the plan isn't ready?

That's today's move.

Keep the goal.

Change the plan.

Move what is ready.

Women like us don't need everything to go according to plan to keep going.

—Martise
Founder, BrazenEra
Author of The Brazen Code

P.S. - There's something wonderfully fitting about The Brazen Code entering the world this way.

I wrote a book about women acting on what they know without waiting for perfect conditions, perfect confidence, or permission.

And now I'm being asked to do exactly that.

So I am.

Next week, you'll be able to hear The Brazen Code.

And later next month, you'll be able to hold it.

It's not the launch I planned.

It might be an even more Brazen one.

The Brazen Code isn't just something I want women to read.

It's something I'm proposing we practice.

And apparently, the practice starts before launch day.

Become a Founding Reader of The Brazen Code.

One more thing:

Think of a woman you know who has hit an obstacle with something she's building.

Don't immediately give her advice.

Ask her:

“What can still move?”

Maybe you have information that can help.

Maybe you can make an introduction.

Maybe you can solve part of the obstacle.

Or maybe asking that one question helps her see a path she couldn't see while staring at the wall.

Women like us don't just help each other keep going. We help each other find another way forward.