Planning Is Boring
November 15, 2020•219 words
545
I think that "planning" is extremely boring. And mostly useless.
While I have spent a lot of time diving deep into various productivity techniques, time-management systems, and tens of different frameworks, I still don't think they're necessary.
Planning takes a lot of time. A lot of energy. And, most of the time, that energy could be just spent on doing the actual thing. Micro-management is truly a monster that's always creeping behind everybody's back.
It's OK to plan if you can't afford going off track even by a tiny margin. Think of a surgeon performing an operation. Or an IT Admin moving traffic to new infrastructure. Or an engineer building a house. There are many scenarios where planning is extremely useful, life-saving, even.
For the other 80% of things we do, planning is an unnecessary step. It takes extra time, energy, willpower. And, when we get off track, we may quickly go into a spiral of self-pity and not actually complete the thing.
So, I advocate for doing something else: setting intentions. Ask yourself a simple question: Why am I doing this? What's the purpose? This will give you confidence, make you focus more on the important stuff, and give true satisfaction after a good day of work.
Don't overdo the pre-doing. Get to doing straight. But mindfully.