Don't Begin With the End in Mind

Stephen Covey - 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, one of the best selling self-help books of all time.

Habit #2 - Begin with the end in mind      As Covey's website puts it ...

Habit 2 is based on imagination--the ability to envision in your mind what you cannot at present see with your eyes. It is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There is a mental (first) creation, and a physical (second) creation. The physical creation follows the mental, just as a building follows a blueprint. If you don't make a conscious effort to visualize who you are and what you want in life, then you empower other people and circumstances to shape you and your life by default.

Good advice for planning your life.  Not such good advice for developing a Strategy.

Consider this Non-Sequitur cartoon from February 28, 2009: 

Deciding on the answer before you do the research makes for bad science and bad strategy.  Yes, sometimes you will be guided by activities which you know "must be done" but if this drive strategy you will never step back and take a broad view of the options and opportunities.

Strategy is about "How to Win" and often this demands a different approach to solving the problems than what has been tried (and failed) in the past.  In OGSP, beginning with the end in mind (the Plans) can only lead to more of the same.