Faith, Detours, and Divine Guidance: How to “Plan the Work and Work the Plan”

For years in my career, I lived by a simple mantra:

“Plan the work. Work the plan.”

As a former Workforce Management professional, I know all about schedules, projections, and plans. But as any WFMer will tell you—deviations are inevitable.

My mentor Cy Wakeman calls those moments “unpreferred reality.” It’s the place where life doesn’t go the way you mapped it out on paper.

Whether you’re running a contact center, launching software, building a business, or simply trying to lead your family with faith and grace…unpreferred realities come for all of us.

The key is having something steady to return to. A plan. A mindset. A truth bigger than your circumstances.

One of the affirmations that has guided me for over a decade comes from Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive Thinking:

I believe I am divinely guided.
I believe I will always take the right turn in the road.
I believe God will always make a way where there is no way.

Those words remind me that no matter how far off track things seem, God is still writing my story. And yours.

We often talk about overcoming obstacles. But I’d challenge you to ask:

What is God calling you to right now?

What task has He uniquely crafted for your gifts? The work He’s given you may not look “spiritual,” but it’s holy just the same. The challenge is to recognize that serving Him often happens in the ordinary, day-to-day moments.

I’ve been reading Jordan Raynor’s The Sacredness of Secular Work. It’s a powerful reminder that our day jobs—and all our “secular” work—matter for eternity.

So let me ask you:

→ Where is God calling you to show up boldly? And what’s stopping you from answering that call?

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.