<p>Yeah, thought that might be the case when I read the copyright 2001-2004 at the bottom of the site. Here’s my essay if anyone wants to take a stab at it (347 words; filled up the 2 pages).</p>
<p>Planning and organizing one’s ideas and actions is an important ingredient of success. However, the notion of chance is predominant in every aspect of life, and that includes plans. While some plans can be better planned to have a better chance to avoid disaster, the element of chance is always present. Therefore, the best plans always take misfortune into account and leave room for error.</p>
<pre><code>Even the most well thought out plans have room for error. In Frederick Douglass’s “The Narrative of Frederick Douglass”, Douglass recounts his life as a slave and points out the horrors of the institution of slavery. Thus, Douglass works on a plan to escape slavery with the aid of some of his friends on the plantation. Because he recognizes that escaping slavery is no easy ordeal, Douglass plans for months on his escape. He pre-plans every element of the escape: who, what, where, when, and how. On the day of his attempt, he is caught in the act because his master happened to be in a position that Douglass was not expecting. It just happened, by chance, that Douglass’s master was not where Douglass had planned him to be. Unfortunately, due to one, almost inconceivable, misfortune in Douglass’s plan, his whole scheme failed. If he had planned for possible error, his plan may have been more successful.
As a busy high school student, I have to plan a lot of things in order to use my time wisely. It is imperative that I figure out what dates I have tests on, what hours I work each day of the week, and when I have appointments scheduled. I plan these things out so I have ample time to get all my work done and satisfy all my responsibilities. However, I do not simply plan. I plan and include extra time for unforeseeable errors. That way, when misfortune kicks in, I am more than prepared.
Unexpected events are inevitable in all plans. Because of this, the key to planning a great plan is to account for unforeseeable events and be ready to counter them.
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