Breaking the Planning Barrier: Insights from Mistakes
Instead of adjusting the goal, I need to try adjusting myself!
Over the last week, I’ve realized something: I am terrible at long-term planning.
Actually, I’m terrible at short-term planning too, which is probably a big reason that I’m so bad at long-term planning. (I see long-term planning as making a series of short-term plans aimed at accomplishing a distant goal—I welcome different perspectives on this though because clearly, this understanding has not helped me to be very effective.)
In university, I consistently waited until the last minute to begin studying for finals—even as you’re reading this, I am in ultra finals mode—despite knowing well in advance when finals will happen and starting every semester with the plan to review content more regularly and start writing my reports as soon as I learn of the requirements. At work, I often know what ideas I want to execute, but I tend to wait until close to the designated deadline to get things done. Even with these blog posts, sometimes I will start a post with an idea intending to work on it throughout the week, but then I won’t touch it again until I am close to my publication deadline. (Or…sometimes past the deadline 😅. Sorry folks!)
Suffice it to say, I’ve become more aware of my difficulties with planning ahead, and I think I’m also becoming more aware of where these difficulties stem from. I believe that I can't successfully act on my plans because I:
Don't consider what is necessary for the plans before I set a goal.
Don't act and/or adjust quickly enough to be able to keep up with the pace of my original plan.
Don't take the time to thoroughly reassess the plan, and then again analyze what I will need to do in order to still achieve that goal.
Because of a combination of these three failures, I often end up just adjusting my goal. While sometimes is necessary to adjust your target, however, I wonder…would I still need to adjust if I could correct the three issues above? What do you think? Have you run into similar issues yourself? If so, how have you resolved them?
In a world full of deadlines and ambitious goals, grappling with poor planning can feel like an uphill battle. But as a Leader in the Making, I've come to realize that the path to effective planning and effective leadership lies in addressing our core challenges head-on. By considering the necessary requirements, acting and adjusting promptly, and thoroughly reassessing our plans, we can navigate the pitfalls of poor planning with greater ease.
So I’ve set a new long-term goal: to successfully execute at least two 6 month plans within the next year without adjusting my goal because I failed to account for one of the three pitfalls above. This plan may change as the year goes on, but for right now, let’s hop to it! I’ll need more opportunities to practice and some resources to help me track my progress. Oh! I’ll also need a group of people to learn from, lean on, and look towards for accountability…are you interested? 😉