There are only 3 guarantees in life, death, taxes and things not going according to plan! No matter how perfect and detailed your plan might be, Murphy’s Law always does its thing. It is a law for a reason. The reality is, most times things will not go according to plan: and that’s exactly how it’s meant to be. Which then begs the question: what is the point of planning?
Good planning is less like using Google Maps and more like using a paper map! Google Maps can tell you exactly, how far your destination is, how long it will take you to get there, where you’ll find the most traffic… There is no such thing in real life.
In life, the most you can get is an idea. An idea of how long it’ll take you to buy that house, to lose that weight, to write that book, to get to your friend’s house. Because there will always be variables we can’t control. You might lose your job, you might get sick, your publisher might go under and your car keeps making that weird noise every time you hit the brakes.
This is how paper maps work; they give you an idea of how to get where you want to get to. You don’t know how much traffic there will be, how long it will take, or how many meters until you have to turn right.
That is what a good plan is supposed to be. Not a step by step tutorial on how to accomplish a goal, but something that gives you the general direction of how to accomplish the goal. Life is too complex & unpredictable for any of us to know exactly how to accomplish anything. But a guide can help us have an idea of how to get to where we want to get to.
“Ideas are merely nutrients for the soil: they lie in your brain as possibilities, so that in the heat of the moment they can inspire a direction, an appropriate and creative response” — Robert Greene
So next time that something derails your plans, don’t worry. Make the necessary adjustments and keep going. Follow your guide, your friend will forgive you for being a bit late to his house.
