Paralysis
of the planning variety
The minutes tick by effortlessly. Thought after thought spills out, seamlessly trailing each predecessor. The word count increases, unforced. Distractions are far from focus. And yet, despite the motion and commotion, very little progress is accomplished.
I do have a fantastic plan at this point. My thoughts, objectives, sequential steps, anticipated challenges, and desired results are all clearly defined, arranged, and established. Often, several iterations to achieve “the plan” are involved. Sometimes, upon revisiting them, I realize I even use the same works and am only rewriting or altering the format. Never, does this activity magically yield the desired result. Effort in ending the planning phase to commence the doing phase is always necessary. When I am rigorous to track the time I spend planning, it occurs to me those hours (days, weeks, … ) would be better spent taking an action step instead. Yes, checking in on the plan to evaluate progress and possibly determine if course-correction is necessary is valuable. However, I could easily continue to remain in the planning paralysis state indefinitely; but I realize this choice results in a pretty plan without yielding any fruit.
Velocity: speed with direction
To interrupt my state of inertia, my tendency to resist changes in my state of planning to a state of action, I have implemented a successful strategy where I resolve to:
1. Set an appropriate timer to all planning activities.*
2. Select, define, and tackle one “must do” activity daily.
Time-Cap
Depending on what type of planning I am working on, I select an appropriate time and adhere to the established duration using a timer. For example, I spend no more than five minutes planning the day’s activities, and I prefer to do so at the end of the day in preparation for the next day when I am already fatigued and well primed for thinking. But, if instead, I am creating a project plan for an implementation where additional research, variables, and data must be considered, my set time period to create the first draft of the project plan would be six hours or so, depending on the project. I would use the Pomodoro Technique, to break down this project plan creation task into smaller buckets and block out time for each sub-activity and still not allow myself to exceed the six hour time cap for the first draft. This way, I stay focused on producing the result, making progress on the sub-steps, and allowing for future improvement and revisions.
*Exception
The only exception to my time-cap rule is when I perform my annual assessment of my previous year and plans for the next. I NEVER put a time-cap on this activity. Though the week between Christmas and New Years tends to be popular among leaders such as John Maxwell and Rachel Hollis to conduct similar activities, I consider this time as my gift to myself; I relish in the pleasure of reviewing the fifty-one weeks prior and dreaming of the next year to come. Technically, given I aim to have a written first draft of my next year goals in order by mid-January, I do have a limit on how much time I spend on goals, but given the excitement and hope of a new year, it is rarely an issue.
Single, Actionable “Must Do”
Returning to my two-point resolve to propel myself towards fruitful progress, I have implemented a daily practice (weekends included!) to select, define, and do one “must do” each day. Ensuring I spend no more than five minutes (see point the first above), I scribble this action in my planner and get moving.
Sometimes, just the act of picking one thing to write is paralyzing in itself. What if I select a “bad” item? What if I can’t complete the item? What if there was something more important/critical/timely/pressing/fun/easy/whatever to do?
Breathe.
Select.
Write.
Do.
Speed and direction.
Velocity.
Inertia converted.
Once I get to the doing, the inertia is converted from aimless planning to active productivity and with this shift, I have broken the planning paralysis.
