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Ditch what’s unnecessary and go with what works
When you wake up in the morning, what do you refer to? A plan.
Have a great idea but it’s not journaling time, but reading?
Calculated that investing is better in July, but once you get there the stock has dropped 50%?
Plans are often the lifelines that get us through the day. It’s what we spend hours on ahead of time to get just right, and then stick with them minute by minute to be our most productive selves.
Except- wrong, plans are anything but a lifeline. In fact, they’re more like an anchor hooked to your britches and pulling you into the sea, as I’ll explain why.
“Planning is Guesswork”
When reading Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier (37Signals), I had a revelation. When they talked about having a business plan, they said that it was better to just “wing it”.
With something as important as business, when you have employees counting on you, why would they suggest this? They state:
“Writing a plan makes you feel in control of things you can’t actually control.”
Now when I think of it, I often feel this way when drafting a plan way before I actually do it. It’s because their isn’t experience to know what you’re doing. But then, when you do have experience, you know what to do instinctively, so then why have a plan?
Creativity
When I had a diligent 6–5 schedule, I would wake up, read up on Medium posts, have breakfast, and then get to work.
Not that this routine was bad in any way, it helped me stay ontop of Medium posts, but I was neglecting my most inspiring time of the day: the morning.
Not only this, but having a daily plan didn’t take into account the hectic summers when I found myself flipping it on its head.
“Plans are inconsistent with improvisation.”
Just wing it
Our best moments are often unplanned, right?
If you’ve ever written a story, designed a thumbnail, or even just doing dishes, did you say “I’ll write this idea when I have it planned to” or “I’ll wash this unexpected heap of pots when I said I will?” Probably not, often even when we don’t plan it, those things need to get done that moment.
And you know what, I bet that novel wouldn’t have been available today if you didn’t, because good ideas die hard when they’re not written down immediately.
Takeaway
Even if you’re a plan-a-holic, being a lil’ spontaneous doesn’t hurt.
If the team at 37Signals could build their intentionally small, small business to design Basecamp, Hey!, among other software, anyone can spend a day unplanned and still get things done.