“What will I do today?”
That’s the feeling I woke up with today, on a Sunday morning. For someone who always has things planned well in advance, this is uncommon. And trust me it’s one of the most boring and low feeling one can have. If you’re someone who has things scheduled, I’m sure you’ll relate with me. I spent literally close to an hour just figuring out what should I do today - and that’s more draining than actually doing a planned task.
One thing was clear though, I had to step out of my house. Working from home, means all my weekends are spent outside. So that was one decision less. But where should I go? What should I do? These were the questions that were still unanswered. Anyways, I started driving, and I guess the muscle memory just kicked in. I drove to my regular cafe in Hyderabad where I work from (Third Wave), opened my laptop and as they say, rest is history.
Anyways, the point of writing this post is how for some people having a plan is the key for them to function well. It’s not that they cannot function without a plan, but they function better with a plan. Whenever I have a meeting (work or personal), an event, or a trip, everything goes on my calendar. Yes, my friends get a calendar invite whenever we plan to meet.
I’ve been told multiple times in the past that I’m too rigid and have a plan or system for everything. For a while I was like, is that wrong? Only to listen to my inner voice that said “you’re doing good, don’t worry”
Why Planning Helps Me?
- Planning isn’t a logistic item for me, it clears my headspace. As in, I don’t need to worry about what do to?, did I miss anything?, but it helps me be in the present.
- It creates a sense of forward motion - everyday you know what’s coming and that creates an anchor for the day. Like today’s laziness was because of absence of an anchor.
- I also feel that planning isn’t just about what, it’s also about who you want to be that day. Not an artificial version, but just a version who’s fully into it - meeting friends, shopping, visiting a cafe or driving - I’m 100% in it. So every day in a way has a character.
Planning doesn’t mean being rigid
That’s the misconception a lot of people have, that when a person is planned or organized they are rigid. That’s a wrong notion, being planned != rigid.
- Plan is a container not a cage. Planning gives you some sense of boundary and freedom yet doesn’t restrict you. Like, you want to visit a cafe today. It can be any cafe, you can order anything. So you’re clear that you’re visiting a cafe and be in your chill and relaxed zone.
- Being rigid means rejecting anything that’s spontaneous - wrong notion. Even when I have a plan to work from a cafe on weekend, doesn’t mean I reject anything adhoc. A friend calls and asks if we could meet, sure let’s do that!
- A lot of people romanticize spontaneity - the idea that best things that happen are unplanned. I don’t deny this completely. But you cannot just leave everything to the last minute? I’m sure you’ve seen people around you who leave things to last minute are scrambling to get things done and often stressed.
Interestingly, writing this post or even creating this site for my musings wasn’t the part of today’s plan :)
To sum things up, Planning is the infrastructure that scales your life - especially when you’re doing a bunch of things. For me, it’s planning my CFPs for conferences, blog post ideas at work, curating itinerary for my next trip, next travel blog post, building and managing relationships - I have a system that helps me operate efficiently without missing out on anything.