Why Planning Can Be Pointless

I LOVE to plan everything. From a young age I planned my life, the year, the month, the week, the day, and even the hour. I measured my success on how well I was able to adhere to my plan. Nothing could deter me from my lists and provisions.

That mindset has begun to unravel as time has gone on however. I have learned that even the best laid plans can be turned upside down and when that happened I would not know what to do. There would be such a feeling of upheaval and I thought that all of my hard work was for naught.

It took me a while to make this realization but it has been essential to my happiness ever since: Have a goal, have steps, have acceptance. This means that you should have something you are working towards, but not a concrete, written in stone plan that you are not willing or prepared to amend when the situation calls for it. Realizing that you are only in control of so much can allow you to let go and not spend useless time worrying. There are entire books dedicated to the quest of combatting worry (I recommend How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie) so I won't delve into that too much; just keep in mind that you should make a distinction between what you can control and what you can't.

There are many different paths that can be taken to achieve your end goal. Just because you may come across a roadblock and have to amend your plan does not mean that you will not ultimately be successful in the way that you originally wished. Learning to deal with problems as they arise and making sure that you are flexible are essential for your success. Putting too much pressure on yourself to have it all can only end up being detrimental because it is an impossible standard to achieve. I propose to you that it is best to take everything one day at a time and have a guide for the future in mind, but not an unwavering plan.

How do you approach your goals? 

-AJF  

This post was originally a guest post (by me!) on Ali in Bloom.