What if you’re thinking about planning all wrong?

This blog started life as an episode of my podcast, Unfrazzle. You can listen here if you prefer.

How would you feel if at the start of a planning session, the person leading it said, “This is not about creating the perfect plan that you’re going to follow perfectly”?

Would it make you question what you’re doing there?

After all, isn’t the whole point of investing time – and possibly money – in planning so you can learn how to do it correctly?

And surely that means creating a plan that works – which means you get everything ticked off?

So if you heard someone saying that, you might feel short-changed or let down in some way.

On the other hand, what if planning was never SUPPOSED to be about creating the perfect plan that you follow perfectly?

What if planning is ACTUALLY about making good decisions about where to invest your precious time, energy and attention?

What if it’s actually about deciding what you’re NOT going to do?

What if planning is about remembering what you’re aiming to achieve?

Looking at your capacity?

Noticing the things you keep putting off, and uncovering insights about why that might be?

What if planning was about spotting the obstacles that might get in your way, and figuring out what you’re going to do to prevent them from holding you back?

What if planning were about giving you permission to NOT follow the plan, when life throws you a curveball or a new, exciting opportunity crosses your path?

Would it matter whether or not you ended that planning session with the perfect plan that you’re going to follow perfectly?

Or would it feel good to have spent some time reflecting, making good, thoughtful decisions and figuring out where you’re going to direct your focus, so you can have the INTENTION to follow the plan, but without expecting yourself to be a robot?

You’re not a robot. So stop planning like one.

Because I hate to break it to you, but you are NOT a robot. You’re a human. Which means you’ll underestimate how long things take to get done. You’ll do your planning and then half an hour later realise you forgot something important. You’ll have days where your energy is on the floor, and days where you feel on top of the world … and won’t know which days are going to be which when you’re making your plans.

Which is why I tell members of Make It Happen Club time and time again that we’re not there to create a perfect plan.

We’re there to make sure we’re being thoughtful and considered, creating the conditions we need to have an incredible month that’s going to move us in a direction we want to be heading in.

I never ask them whether or not they got everything done last month.

Planning is not a pass/fail situation. It’s an opportunity. We never ‘fail’ when it comes to following our plans. We either succeed, or we learn.

Planning done right gives you the opportunity to notice those lessons and integrate them, so you can do things differently next time.

Again, not with the expectation that you’re eventually going to get it right.

There is no right.

But so you can keep discovering more about what works for you, what you’re avoiding (and why), where you might benefit from asking for help, and the small adjustments you can make to help you be more intentional as you go about your life.

Progress over perfection

So how’s your relationship with planning right now?

Are you expecting it – and YOU – to be perfect?

And then beating yourself up when the inevitable happens?

How would it feel to loosen your grip. To allow the plans you make to be a little less rigid (but without letting yourself off the hook)?

It’s not always an easy balance to find, but the first step is to remember the planning is not about perfection. It’s about progress.

(And yes, I know it sounds like AI came up with that, but I promise this is all me!)

As always, I hope that this helps and I look forward to seeing you again soon.