Foreword about Plain Plan

Yefeng Xia
Plain Plan
Published in
3 min readJul 4, 2023
image by author

For a long time, I’ve tried to find my own path in life. When my grandfather was about to die of illness, he summoned me to follow my father’s plan for me. My father is a factory owner, and he witnessed the rise of an industry, and now the industry he has been working on for more than 30 years is gradually falling, and its former glory is no longer. Therefore, the factory where my father has poured his heart and soul into has also gone from bad to worse since then. He asked me to study hard and choose an easier path for earning a life than by managing a factory. In China, everything should be done step by step, doing the right thing at the right time is much better than breaking the usual, and living an ordinary but stable life is much more meaningful than a life where one has ricked all over the world or explored the cosmos.

Not only these old-days industries the last generations work on are declining, but new star industries such as autonomous driving are facing the crisis of entering a cold winter. The company I work for is also in financial trouble. So I have to think over my future plan. A lot of confusion appeared in front of me, where I should go and what else I can do.

I used to hate planning as I was a student whether I am in China or Germany. As a student, I had much enough time to kill, more specifically to say, a student shall enjoy life. In Western countries, enjoying one’s life is something essential in society. On the contrary, working hard may be something engraved in the bones of Chinese people, and that’s been common sense in China for many thousand years.

It’s hard when someone in China doesn't know how to plan his tomorrow since young. So I have to plan many things after I started my work in China, which includes life, work, even relationships, and family. It may sound sad.

put it another way, or search the recommendations from Google, “what’s the benefits of planning”, we can get comforted on the other hand.

screenshot in Google

As listed above, many known popular effects…

So, I think it’s somehow meaningful to create this publication, named Plain Plan, for short P Plan. I think a good plan must sound plain and simple, easy to explain and to be understood, but also practicable. When the plan is listed in detail, the sponsor can follow it and implement it, but anyone else who knows it can also complete the plan. I believe, what benefits of planning there will be is much more than Google knows.

Thus, here we would like to collect all these plain plans from all over the world and different dimensions, including topics from life, job, and travel.

Last but not least, I appeal to everyone to support our publication and share their plans and stories.

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