“You can always change your plan but only if you have one.”
Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture
Life is full of little paradoxes. Take planning for instance. We make plans to meet up with friends that we sometimes can’t attend; we make plans to finish a project early when the reality is that rarely happens; and we make plans to be at a certain place in our lives that almost always never end up how we pictured it. So the question remains, why do we always insist on making plans that don’t go the way we expect?
That’s exactly missing the point. It’s not the plan, it’s the planning. It’s the process of understanding the many different ways in which your situation can interact with all the other external factors. That’s the important part. Nothing fixed or static about that. And nothing more useful when you come across a situation you didn’t expect.
Life doesn’t always go the way you expect, and with planning, that’s great news.
Well said!
Ah, Planning! Research! Analysis!!! I would have expected no less from an uber-nerd like you. But what about analysis-paralysis? Sometimes you just gotta stop preparing, and trust you’re ready to take on whatever is thrown at you. I think it’s important to add that Planning is great when you’re waiting, but Action is oh so much more fun.
You’re right action is an important part too, or else we’d get nothing done! Action is definitely more fun… and scary. I think the most successful people prepare enough so that their actions have the most effect. So I guess we should say that “Actions speak louder than words” but maybe with the caveat that “Planning helps you pick the right actions to speak.”