How to Get Unstuck: Stop Planning
I was raised by someone whose job was to plan: to ensure adequate allocation of resources; to cross the t’s and dot the i’s in advance of the final rollout of a product or program; and to envision potential disaster scenarios and develop response strategies. I copied the great aspects of that behavior, but I also imitated or inherited the negatives, too.
Maybe you were also raised by someone like that. Or perhaps you grew up in an environment that was itself something of an intermittent disaster. Maybe neither! Maybe both!
Perhaps you, Child of Overplanning and/or Emotional Chaos, actually rebelled as an adult by ignoring potential issues and developing tunnel vision, working ceaselessly toward a goal without looking side to side. Along the way, you likely missed some important signs and sometimes ended up with an insufficient or untenable final project.
Or perhaps, like me, you experienced the illusion of 360-degree vision, working toward covering all bases at all times, no breaks, no rest, until you collapsed from exhaustion. For all our caution and planning, people like us do not always build a better creation. Some might even say our preparatory work is really procrastination in perfectionist disguise, but I think that’s another essay.
