Thursday 15 May 2014

Is planning all it's cracked up to be?

Planning.  Love it or hate it?

People think I'm good at it.  They tell me I'm efficient and organised.  (Admittedly 'they' are mostly people I've worked with.  Family may be laughing into their sleeves at this while looking meaningfully at the knitting needles stuck down the side of the sofa and the ironing pile teetering alarmingly on the armchair.  And have you seen the state of my greenhouse recently?  No?  Just as well.)

Ahem.  But seriously, I do appear to be able to get things done in a seemingly ordered fashion, and on time, most of the time.

But I don't really plan.

OK, so the easy stuff is planned.  Rough menus for the week's main meals, shopping lists, that kind of thing.  Those things just give a nice easy framework to follow so I can stop thinking at the end of the day and just cook what the list tells me.  It frees up brain space.

But planning for big things: life goals, enormous work projects?  Nope.  I sketch out a rough idea of what might happen, and then mostly just wing it.  Flexibility is everything, because stuff always happens that you didn't foresee and you have to deal with it.  Too much navel-gazing beforehand and you've used up half your working time in thinking and planning.

I know the saying goes 'fail to plan: plan to fail', but analysis is boring and winging it is easier and much more fun.

I can hear people out there disagreeing with everything I've just said.  Love planning?  Go on, tell me why!

No comments:

Post a Comment