The Biggest Mistake I See People Doing When it Comes to Planning (and What I Do Instead)
Planning is meant to help you reach your destination, not get you stuck and feeling bad about yourself
I’m fairly new to coaching, but there’s one trend that already stood up among the people I talk to every day:
Almost all of them feel bad about not being able to follow through with their plans.
Here’s the thing about plans, though: they are supposed to support us in our journey. Plans create clarity, and clarity allows us to take action.
When our plans become a reason for us to bash ourselves and feel like a failure, then we are doing something wrong.
Usually that something wrong is not allowing the plan to evolve and adjust to the inevitable ebbs and flows of life.
Rigid plans make us feel trapped
If we think of our plan as something that we must absolutely follow or else we’ll never make it, we are bound to give ourselves a terrible experience which might lead to us quitting and never making it to the finishing line.
This is too stressful
I don’t have time for that
Maybe I should just put this project on hold for the moment
These are all red flags that the plan needs some serious reviewing and adjusting.
Sure, there are times in which a plan will simply fail because the goal we are working toward loses its appeal to us.
But if your goal is a solid one, one that you believe reaching will improve your life, and one that makes you feel awesome when you dream about it — then you’d be doing yourself a huge disservice if you didn’t go for it.
And yes — the right time to start working on a goal like that is always now.
There’s no better time.
It doesn’t matter how full your plate is, how busy you are, and how much time you don’t have. There’s always something that you can do to get closer to your goals.
And something is all you need to do.
You don’t have to move giant steps right now if your capacity doesn’t allow for that sort of commitment.
You can (and should) take it as slow as you need to, to keep moving without overwhelming yourself and losing joy and excitement in the process.
A good plan is a plan that allows us to do exactly that:
move every day in the direction of our dreams without overwhelm, stress, or guilt.
A more flexible approach to planning is what you need
When you sit down to draw your plan of how you can go from point A (your current situation) to point B (your desired outcome), you ask yourself:
How can I get there?
What follows is most likely a series of actions that you believe will allow you to make the progress you need to reach your goal.
What you don’t know at that point, though, is how your perception of what needs to be done and your capacity will change, once you actually start moving in the direction of your goal.
You plan from point A, right?
But when you’re executing, you’re not at that point anymore. You progressed in your journey, acquired new knowledge, changed your POV on things, and possibly acquired new skills.
Maybe your routines changed, and your days look different.
Maybe unexpected things came up and now demand your energy and attention.
You won’t be the same person living the exact same life in the exact same circumstances as the one who created the plan.
If you think of it this way, it only makes sense that the plan adjusts to your needs as you go. Doesn’t it?
Besides, life has its seasons.
There will be times in which you won’t have the energy or be in the mood to give 100% to your project.
There will be times in which you’ll inevitably fall off track.
Remaining flexible in your approach to planning and executing allows you to go through these times without harming your motivation or self-confidence.
You won’t be feeling like sh*t for having a lazy week! Instead, you’ll see it as part of the process and focus on recharging to get back to it stronger than ever.
A plan that works is flexible, sustainable, and enjoyable.
Rigid plans have a paradoxical aspect:
they make us feel like we are moving, while in truth they are forcing us to remain static.
It might seem like we are moving, from an outside point of view (because we do take action) but we are stuck in the identity of the person we were when we laid down the plan.
A good plan that works well and brings you closer to your dream is a plan that evolves with you, that is enjoyable and sustainable. One that you find excited putting into action every day, and that leaves you satisfied with what you’ve accomplished more times than not.
If your goal is to be chill and happy about life (and this is exactly what 99% of us want), start by being happy and chill about planning and executing.
Make space to reflect on your progress, see what went well and what didn’t go as expected, and adjust accordingly.
A plan is a tool.
It has to work *for* you, not against you.
