I’m a planner. I’m a morning person. And, among other things, what I spend a good amount of time doing is planning out the day and week.
This daily planning session involves: new goals, some re-assessing of established goals for the day/week/month and then deciding if what I had previously planned still works toward those goals. I have planning lists for our home life, work, personal accomplishments, dreams of what our future looks like, etc.
And to be prepared to tackle these lists I need to spend some time preparing… my heart, my head, my resources… you get the idea. I can plan, plan, plan… but without preparing for the needs of the project I know that I’m just going to flail about with no true direction.
Wait… I’ve heard these objections before. I know what some of you are thinking: “You’re too high-strung. Who has time for fun when there’s so much planning going on? What about being spontaneous? Why does every minute of the day have to be planned?”
First of all… bad assumption. There’s plenty of time for spontaneity. There truly is. After years of planning, in the way that I am used to, I have learned how to set reasonable expectations of myself. On one hand, if I don’t get to everything on my list that’s OK – it really is. Secondly, I plan “down time” into my agenda as well. I know that I have bouts of high productivity followed by periods of contemplation, followed by moments of doing a-b-s-o-l–t-e-l-y NOTHING. And I’m OK with that. Typically. And if not, then the self-guilt drives me to get up off the couch and keep working towards my goals.
But to move ahead and be ready to jump on opportunity when it presents itself … it takes some preparation. And so the sayings go…
“Failing to plan is planning to fail.” Alan Lakein
“Plans are nothing; planning is everything.” Dwight D. Eisenhower
“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” Colin Powell
“By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail.” Benjamin Franklin
“Prior planning prevents poor performance.” British Army Adage
So, yes … I’m a tried and true planner. I do my research. I ask “What if?” a lot, from all different angles, even if the likelihood of those options are low. I even walk myself down the path of some of those answers to see where it might lead me. I dream. I hustle… so that when opportunity presents itself I can be prepared with the knowledge of knowing HOW TO respond, to be able to determine IF I should respond, to know when I should just say “No – don’t count on me for this one.”, and to determine ahead of time what drives my focus.
My name is Lori… I am a planner. I blame it on my Dad…
Lori J. Tisdale 