the.com/game plan
A strategy you swear you'll stick to until the first punch lands.
means A prepared strategy for achieving a goal or handling a situation, especially before it gets tested by reality.
from Straight out of American football, where coaches drill a literal plan for the game — plays mapped out, contingencies rehearsed — before kickoff. By the mid-20th century it had jumped the fence into politics, business, and everyday talk, becoming shorthand for any strategy sketched out in advance. The word keeps its gridiron confidence even when the 'game' is just a tough conversation you're about to have.
- origin
- Football jargon, adopted by boardrooms in the 1970s
- secret
- Mostly exists to survive contact with reality
- rule
- Good ones have a backup plan baked in
- truth
- The plan matters less than the planning