Nintendo started as a playing card company in 1889. In the 114 years since, they’ve sold: table-top games, electronic games, virtual shooting systems, virtual reality games, handheld games, platform games, home entertainment systems, the Wii, and theme parks.
In their time in business, there has been an incredible amount of change; change that they survived while hundreds of thousands of other businesses shuttered their doors.
Every business is affected by change. Some ride positive lift from market trends and technological innovation. Others descend on the backside of change, struggling to survive and eventually failing.
That change is a constant is why you should plan for it.
Plans force you to anticipate. To cast your eyes ahead and see the branches in the river, so that you end up on a route that will take you where you want to go.
When you don’t plan, you’re rolling the dice to see what fortune has determined for you instead.
You’ll still see change, but you’ll be reacting to it as it occurs. You’ll be rowing up-river fighting to get back to that fork you missed while drinking a beer and celebrating your success.
Featured image is Original Nintendo headquarters (1889–1930) and workshop in Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto, c. 1889. Used under public domain.