On planning
Read time: 6 minutes
How many times have we gone head first into challenges we were not yet prepared for.
Sure, adventure’s fun and sure, we need to get our comfort zone and experience something new every once in a while, but the problem comes when we apply the same mentality to our whole lives.
The real problem arises when we spend no time at all in the design process, when we attack each day without a plan.
What is a plan?
The dictionary definition of a plan is “a detailed proposal for doing or achieving something”.
It is the “path” we choose on the mountain.
It is the play by play description of where we are, where we are going and how we are going to get there.
A plan is the line we choose to draw on the map that will get us from where we are right now, to where we want to be.
We can plan pretty much everything in our lives:
The day ahead of us, our birthday, our biggest goals, our speeches.
The question is:
How do we go about planning?!
How do we plan?
The process of planning is simple, but not necessarily easy.
First up, we need to choose a “destination”.
We can define it as anything from being able to run a marathon, losing 5 kg, building a company, etc.
The important thing is that we choose our destination before we do anything else.
Secondly, we have to assess where we are.
Are we so out of shape that we can’t run 1 km?
Do we lack the education needed for basic entrepreneurial endeavors?
It really doesn’t matter where we are, as long as we make an extremely sincere description of where we are right now.
Thirdly, we set a deadline.
I don’t care how big the difference is between where you are and where you want to be.
It doesn’t matter how unrealistic achieving your goal seems right now.
It is important to just set out a time in place, somewhere in your future when you want to have achieved this goal.
It’s important to strike a balance between being realistic and being outrageous.
If it’s your first time working on a project, I’d highly suggest you err on the side of outrageousness!
The deadline may be too outrageous, but you will achieve much much more than you thought was possible when you have less time available than you think you need.
Fourthly, set the milestones and the actions you have to achieve
Now that you know where you are and where you want to go, it’s time to address the how.
What are the actions you are going to do, when are you going to do them, how are you going to do them.
What are the milestones you set in place for you to know you are on the right track (example: You want to run a marathon in 1 year, by the 6 month mark you should be able to run at least 10k).
It’s extremely important that you write everything down, it’s mandatory that you find a way to make this plan as tangible as possible.
And last but definitely not least…
Make sure you know your obstacles
What will be stopping you from achieving your goals?
What are going to be the hurdles you will encounter on the way to your goals?
What will make you more likely to give up along the way?
When will you feel the least motivated?
When will you want to give in?
It’s important to prepare for the unpleasant moments along the way.
It not only better prepares us for the journey ahead, but it also creates a more realistic view of our trajectory, it will not be shocking when 5 months into the project we will not have any more creative ideas.
It’s important to plan for the unpleasantries and at the same time carve up solutions for whatever problems you will encounter.
Oh shit, everything went wrong.
Let me get you in on a secret.
What you plan vs what actually happens in life are almost never the same.
Sure you might have prepared for 1 million obstacles along your way, but you simply can’t know EXACTLY how your future will look, you can’t know for sure EXACTLY what will happen at every corner of your own life.
The best thing we can do is create a plan, try to stick to it, but don’t get too attached to that possible reality.
One of my favorite movie quotes is at the end of the movie “Mr. Nobody”.
After seeing every possible life he could have had, the protagonist is asked:
“What’s the right path?”
To which the main characters replies:
“Every path is the right path. Everything could've been anything else. And it would have just as much meaning.”
So too should we not get too attached to the road we take, instead focus on making sure we reach our desires peaks, no matter what the path may be, no matter what the challenges, no matter how the story may unfold, we will find meaning.
Photo credits:
Oxana on Unsplash
Green-chameleon on Unsplash
Sarah-kilian on Unsplash