Before discussing the myths of life planning, let’s first define what life planning is.
Life planning involves setting specific goals, aspirations, visions, and expectations for different stages of life and designing a series of actions and small goals to achieve them.
Life planning is about bringing yourself closer to the future you desire.
Next, let’s look at ten common stereotypes about planning!
1. Planning is boring.
If your goals are set correctly, planning can be exciting.
Imagine you want to fit into a beautiful wedding dress in six months. You might naturally start controlling your diet and exercising. When you think about how stunning you'll look in the dress, you'll be motivated to keep going. On the other hand, if you were trying to fit into an ugly dress, the effort would feel begrudging and unsustainable. Life planning is the same: it's crucial to have goals that you genuinely like.
2. Planning is lonely and done in isolation.
Use your imagination! It can become your most cherished time for deep self-reflection.
For example, I enjoy planning on a moving train, in a special coffee shop, or in the comfort of my home. On nice days, I even plan on my balcony. By adjusting the environment and mindset for planning, it can become a very enjoyable process. Rather than being merely therapeutic, it feels like organizing your life and yourself.
3. Planning is just about creating a schedule.
A schedule is merely the surface representation.
Each schedule is a balance between yourself and the outside world. Interestingly, schedules look different depending on the role of the person creating them. The core of it is understanding your state when performing each task.
In other words, your schedule is like your weekly horoscope. While we can't change external circumstances, we can design a schedule that suits us, making the boundaries between ourselves and the outside world clearer. This helps us balance what we can and cannot control, allowing for a more fulfilling workday experience.
4. Once a plan is made, there's no need to review it.
Both pre-planning and post-recording help us understand ourselves better over time.
We often think of planning as only a pre-task activity, but post-task recording is incredibly valuable. Pre-planning lets us use our current knowledge to imagine our future selves, while post-recording allows us to reflect on our past selves from our current perspective. By engaging in both, we gain deeper self-understanding over time.
You might realize, "Wow, I'm so efficient!" or "I need more rest than I thought," or "This schedule really affects my energy." Over time, these insights become a great basis for making future life decisions.
5. Work is exhausting enough; planning feels like a waste of time.
Work isn't the only focus in life, right? But because work can be so demanding, it's even more important to reclaim some control.
It's essential to rest when tired, but because we work so hard, we deserve a better life experience!
Good life experiences don't just happen; we often need to create them ourselves. I plan according to my energy levels. If I'm utterly exhausted, I rest. But if I have just a bit of energy left, I use it to plan a rewarding experience for myself, like a deeply relaxing trip or an exciting date. This brings me more happiness than mindlessly scrolling on my phone, because after working so hard, I deserve to enjoy myself.
6. I don’t know why, but I just don't like planning. Why do some people love it so much?
Start by asking yourself, "Why do I dislike planning?" and "What comes to mind when I think about planning?"
From these answers, identify if past negative experiences are influencing your choices.
In my experience, I have two planning modes: "intensive planning and review periods" and "simple planning."
From 2008 to 2017, I was in a period of intensive planning. During this time, I was incredibly busy, often working late into the night. On days without overtime, I occasionally cared for relatives. I would check my calendar both morning and evening to ensure that, amidst the busyness of work and caring for others, I didn't neglect my personal goals and self-care. Busy periods can make us focus only on basic needs, but is that really where we want to be?
Fast-paced living can make us only see immediate needs.
However, regular planning and review of life brought me two major benefits:
Improved self-awareness and control.
I gained a deeper understanding of myself, including what makes me happy, what distresses me, and what drains my energy. Don’t underestimate this knowledge. When life gets busy, if we don’t pause to process emotions, we only see immediate needs.
Each planning and review session is a chance to pause and understand the changes in yourself through interactions with the world. Over time, you'll find your sense of control improves. When life gets complex, you'll know better how to arrange things, make decisions, and maintain your energy. With this deeper understanding of my functioning, my current planning has become "simple."
Living not just for external demands.
Another benefit was the positive impact on my life. While working at an advertising company, freelancing to save money, and caring for relatives, I successfully applied to an international school and integrated beautiful activities into my life, like jogging, volunteering, attending lectures and exhibitions, and traveling abroad. Even now, looking back at that busy time, it fills me with a sense of accomplishment.
7. Planning makes life inflexible.
If you create a flexible plan, your life won't lack flexibility.
Planning is just a dynamic sketch of life. If your planning is adaptable, then your life will be adaptable. Some people think planning limits life's surprises, but that's not the case unless you try to control everything. Planning is just a framework or a draft; the final execution depends on the moment. We just gain a basic grasp of things.
8. Only work needs planning.
Planning should be applied to anything you have expectations for, as it helps you get closer to those expectations.
The purpose of planning is to align yourself with your desired future, preventing your current self from losing control due to too many uncontrollable factors.
Since work is only one part of life, other aspects need to be considered as well. This prevents work fatigue from consuming all your imaginative space. We all know that once we're tired, our ability to imagine life possibilities naturally gets limited.
9.Planning needs to be perfect.
Nothing and no one is perfect, so planning doesn't need to be perfect either.
If we must define perfect, it's something that can turn a week that would be a 10/10 on the unhappiness scale into an 8/10. That's perfect.
10. Planning is not just about managing time.
Planning involves any limited resources, such as time, finances, energy, or mental effort. However, because time cannot be regained and serves as the core driver of life progression, other resources flow based on time. Therefore, we use time as the primary axis for planning to better allocate other limited resources along this axis.
Here are 2 tips to cultivate a love for planning!
1. Create Solo Enjoyment Planning Time:
Sometimes, you might have places you want to visit like cafes or tea rooms but don't have someone to go with. Embrace this opportunity for solo planning! Bring along a notebook and pen to these places you've been wanting to visit. This solo time can be a great chance to reflect and plan.
Personal Recommendations:
London: Comptoir Cafe & Wine
Taipei: Rufous Coffee、Jack & Nana
2. Let Your Personal Items Motivate You:
Consider using personal items as motivational tools:
Items that Remind You of the Beauty of Life: Place items on your desk that remind you of the good things in life, such as favorite lip gloss, family photos, or souvenirs from travels. These can lift your spirits and energize you.
Items that Stimulate Motivation: Choose an achievable item from your bucket list and make it tangible. Print it out and put it on your desk or set it as your phone wallpaper. This visual reminder can inspire action and planning towards your goals.
To begin enjoying planning, it's important to have a sense of anticipation and excitement about life. Even small anticipations can be meaningful. By integrating these practices into your routine, you can gradually develop a positive association with planning and find joy in organizing your activities and aspirations.