When Planning Turns Into Procrastination

Oh, how I love a good plan!  One that has a direct link to a bigger strategy or higher purpose. One that charts a direct path forward. A neat little plan that lists the tasks in a nice orderly sequence; that is clean, and clear and actionable. A tidy agenda that allows me to peer forward and anticipate what I need to do and when I need to do it. And most of all, one that by the nature of its masterful construction virtually guarantees the desired outcome.

Good planning makes my life orderly and manageable. The best plans don’t waste time or money. They are comforting. Once done, they provide focus and direction. I can mark progress and check the “done” column. That feels good.

And how I struggle when there is no plan. When I’m not sure where we are headed or what we want to achieve. When the path forward is uncertain or unknown. When I can’t figure out the nice, neat, orderly steps to get from here to there. When I have no visibility on what tomorrow or the next day, week or month might be like.

And here lies the conundrum. There are so many times my exacting, plan-loving left brain is not suited for. Like when the vision is so big that I have no idea how to plot the course. Or when the desired outcome is fuzzy, and we only have a general direction rather than an exact destination. Or when the world around me is changing so quickly that a plan of more than 6 months has no way to get a foothold. And those types of situations are increasingly the norm.

I liken it to the difference between landing a fully instrumented plane on a major airport runway to landing a hot air balloon with wafting winds. In the plane, precision is possible due to technology, a well trained crew, and control tower staff knowing every step, including contingency plans for deviations.  Not the case in the hot air balloon. As such, there are chasers who observe and follow on the ground in their cars. The hot air pilot controls what she can – mostly up and down motion and finding a wide open spot to touch down, hoping that the chase car has made it in order for someone to tether the balloon to the ground.

I’ve taken more than my share of plane rides – and only one hot air balloon ride. I must say that the hot air balloon ride was much more splendid, thrilling and memorable. Traveling via aircraft is fast (most of the time) and reliable (most of the time) but painfully mind numbing and impersonal.

So what’s a person like me, who likes the precision of a plan, to do when the world is terribly unpredictable (and therefore hard to plan for)? My natural tendency is to hold off, to await more information, more definition, and more clarity. Once that happens, I tell myself, then I can put together the plan.

And there are times that this is the case – when the project team I support gets their act together, when my client and I agree on the outcomes, the approach and the general direction, when my family finally decides on a date and destination for our family vacation. But increasingly there are times when that is not the case –  the project team has such a large task that the outcomes and timing are unknowable; what I want to create has not been done before; the external environment changes shapes so swiftly that painstakingly detailed plans become futile.

And as much as I long for the comfort of a plan, the hard plain truth is this: Things never go as planned – even when well planned.

And so I need to be keenly aware of when my waiting for enough clarity to plan turns into procrastination. When I am stalling and afraid to step into the unknown. When I have put more faith in the power of a plan than my ability to deal intelligently with ambiguity and carve a path where there was none before. Just like a hot air balloon pilot, I need to trust my own instincts minute by minute, navigate to the best of my ability, rely on others to provide feedback, and hang on an enjoy the ride.

Funny thing is, I know the answer to how to move forward when things are murky. You can too if you check out our Leadership Guide 5: The Journey Forward. But sometimes knowing and doing are two different things – so I challenge myself, and you too, to recognize those times where you are awaiting the perfect plan that may never materialize – and you need to follow another path to make progress.