Plan to Predict the Future: Plan to Fail
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
The hardest part of transitioning is all the change that comes at you fast. If you are a planner, you most likely try to prepare for your next chapter as best as you can but no matter how much you plan for what comes next, you cannot predict the future. Some people deal with transitioning well but for others, it can be a chaotic experience no matter how many times they have had to go through some type of life change. While we often praise those who plan, we need to remember that they can’t predict the future; they too have to learn to be flexible, resilient and adaptive to their new environment. Success during transition is not always about having a perfect plan, it’s also about managing one’s expectations and knowing when and how to pivot when things are not going according to plan.
Graduating from college is something we plan for. We know how long we are going to be in school; the plan is pretty much prepared for us throughout our entire time in school, but once we graduate, adulthood becomes realer than anything we could have probably imagined. We have to work so that we can provide for ourselves, we have to pay bills, and we have to make decisions that may not only affect us but others in our lives as well.
Buying a house is something that we can plan for, however, being outbid by investors, predicting what an inspector may find, unexpected closing costs, or finding out that your closing date keeps getting pushed further to the right is a humbling experience that you cannot precisely prepare for.
Moving to another city for a new job is something we can plan for but a lot of change comes with this. You have to learn your job, find a new home, make new friends, get to know your coworkers, find a new church, and start a new life. You can plan for many things before moving but once you move, so many changes will begin to take place.
A family member dying is something you can plan for in some instances but no matter how much you plan, the aftermath of their death can be overwhelming. You have to notify several people and official businesses that this person died. You have to settle their estate and ensure that their wishes are carried out all while taking care of your own mental and physical well-being.
I wouldn’t list all these ways change could present challenges in your life without providing you with some sort of coping mechanisms or ways to help you manage your expectations.
Plan less. There is such thing as overplanning. You can plan too much and leave no room for error. Then, when something comes up, you don’t know what to do and that thing that comes up leaves you feeling lost or overwhelmed. When you leave room for mistakes to happen, you allow yourself an opportunity to adapt to your circumstance and recover easily. You don’t get caught up in why something happened or how hard it will be to recover; instead you focus on problem solving and you learn how to bounce back and fall right into a new routine.
Focus on what you can control. You cannot control the future. This is an obvious statement but sometimes you need to hear someone say it out loud for you to hear so that you can remember. You can only control the things that are within your control. You don’t control other people’s actions and you do not control the future, so don’t sweat it.
Don’t try to accomplish everything at once. Sometimes when we plan, we tend to over do it. We think that because we have a plan we can add more on to our plate. This isn’t always true. Planning also involves being smart about your goals and breaking things down into bite-sized pieces. Tackling small issues can make transition easier to manage.
Those of us who plan for everything and leave no room for error use our plans as a security blanket. Planning makes us feel safe and confident that our transition into the next chapter will be more manageable. The truth is, anything can happen and what we should prepare ourselves for is the unpredictability of the future that we cannot see. Leaving room for error, focusing on what we can control, and making the transition more manageable proves that we understand that we know how to remain flexible during a transition. I’ll leave you with this, some people say, fail to plan plan to fail. I’d like to remix this and say fail to plan with room for flexibility, plan to fail.