Talking ‘bout a Revolution

Have you written any To Do lists lately? Or planned your next business venture/holiday/shopping trip? Structured your day? Role-played the next “serious conversation” with your partner/spouse in your head or in front of the mirror? All of the above? And ended up doing nothing or changing it so much that your original plan seemed to belong to an entirely different person or life? Congratulations – you’re a “who needs real action when there’s planning to do!” junkie! But don’t worry, you are not alone. We are secretive, but we are everywhere.

If you don’t believe me just drop by the nearest book store, will you? And then find the business section, or the self-help shelf, books on fitness, language courses – anything really (apart from fiction). Or google it if you’re too lazy to leave your couch. Just type in something along the lines of “the secret to planning”. Or better yet, just “planning”. 3 BILLION entries. Do I have to say more?

We’re a generation of planners. I can see the evolutionary benefit that led to the survival of this skill (from hunting to planting seeds and subsequently harvesting enough food for a whole winter instead of just one dinner was a pretty big step), but it seems to have become rampant. People can’t even use the washroom without planning their “loo breaks” any more, it seems. Toddlers need blackberries in order to keep track of their various appointments and ongoing projects. OK, that might be a bit exaggerated, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they invented the “iphone for kids” very soon. They seem to have the most money anyway.

Yes, modern life demands a lot from us, a lot of multitasking and scheduling and organizing because we’re oh so mobile and flexible and specialized while at the same time DIY and BYOB and “be your own boss”. And it’s great to have so many opportunities that our parents couldn’t even dream of, but lately I’m thinking more and more that it comes with a heavy cost: the loss of action. In the good old times (I mean pre-cell phone times in this case) if you wanted to see a friend or arrange some kind of meeting you did it with one quick phone call or a 2-minute face to face chat. Done, no need to think about it till the actual day of the meeting. Today the phrase “I’ll have to reschedule” seems to have outstripped “I love you” in terms of frequency of usage, if not popularity by far. Alarming, don’t you think?

Again, if you don’t believe me, I’ll prove it to you, just follow this simple instruction: During the next two weeks, make a note whenever you plan to do something – whether it’s buying light bulbs or taking an old friend you haven’t seen in ages out for coffee – but fail to actually do it. And then count these “not done”s.

There’s nothing wrong with thinking ahead and trying to figure out the best way to do something, even writing down a list of steps or sub-goals. What we have to understand, though, is that planning doesn’t magically expand time or give us twice the amount of energy. It helps, but the learning and what’s even more important the fulfillment, joy and success of our lives are in the doing.

For a lot of people (including me) planning often times is a means of avoiding something unpleasant or unknown. Instead of just jumping in and doing it I spend hours (sometimes days) analysing all the possible outcomes and planning my reactions. Just because we humans have been given the gift of anticipation doesn’t mean we should use it all the time. So if you want to meet your high school friend for a drink don’t let bad weather or that urgent email you suddenly remember you have to write thwart your plans. And if you want to be the next political leader don’t waste time talking ‘bout a revolution – be one.