Why Planning Works (Always)

Anything worth doing is worth planning (at least once).

Lest I lose a potential reader who may think “Why plan small tasks? They’re small… ” let me say that even small tasks can benefit from a careful – albeit quick – planning session. Maybe there’s a better way of doing things, or maybe new resources are available to make a rote task quicker/easier/better?

Of course, there’s a balance to be struck between moving through the mundane and recurring with swiftness and taking time to examine and plan (every little thing… ). Let these first paragraphs be an invitation to look at some small things you’ve been doing anew, or to be careful when starting something small. It can be as simple as asking yourself: “Is the way I am approaching this in accordance with my values, ethics and goals?”

Then pausing… and continuing on, integrating any wisdom that comes up.

But what about medium-to-large tasks, projects and goals?

Taking the time to carefully examine and understand the complexities and ingredients of something, and committing that process to paper* is invaluable.

Not that you’ll have that paper in your hand every second of the task, pausing repeatedly to consult your plan.

Hardly.

Most often, it’s the process of planning that creates informed progress.

When something is well-planned, we program our sub-conscious on our – and our goals behalf – to work both when we’re “awake” and doing, but also when we sleep.**

***

* The pause/review/notice method I propose for small/rote/mundane tasks doesn’t require paper, only use it if it’s particularly helpful.

** So much sorting, processing and refining happens while we sleep it’s amazing. But it only happens when we give our sub-conscious “good stuff” to chew on.