what’s the plan stan?

I was tasked with an interesting assignment. Plan out 4 weeks, 6 months, 1 year, 5 years and 10 years. I am a systematic NON planner. I tend to go with the flow, let ideas flourish and just let things happen to me. I cringe at the idea of formatted agendas, over planned learning and limiting imagination.

Being asked to plan out 10 years seemed immediately daunting and unreasonable, but I went ahead with the assignment and took my time trying to figure things out. I wrote down the headings 4 weeks, 6 months, 1 year, 5 years and 10 years…and then left it on a virtual post-it note on my desktop so that every time I turn on my computer I see it. As the days past, I would add a comment here and an idea there, but nothing really formulated in the way I had imagined. I thought I might never be able to come up with a vision and goals for the next 10 years let alone the next 4 weeks.

One day as I was staring at the headings, I realized that my ages for these would be 29, 30, 34 and 39…which don’t mean much to me, but I thought it was interesting that they didn’t since these are the ages in which people generally expect certain things to have already been achieved. When I was a kid, I thought by the time I was 26 I would have kids of my own, now that I am 3 years “behind” on that plan, I see how much you have to live for the moment and go with the flow, but I really appreciate the way this assignment has made me think about the future. Planning for the future doesn’t mean sticking to it, in fact it is just like setting the coordinates, heading in that direction and then being totally ok with the detours and the strangers you meet along the way. I am learning that creating a container can actually free the creativity juices and allow for more dynamic conversations and the partners who are going to help me along the way.

Here are my coordinates:

4 weeks – be excited for structure

6 months – learn about happiness

1 year – depend on others

5 years – hold the container

10 years – have a place

I entered into the resistance of planning and actually really enjoyed it, I feel like I am getting excited about structure, I am finding ways to settle into a rhythm and paying attention to what I need to make structure possible but also enjoyable. I am confident in these coordinates and the places they will take me. I feel stronger knowing that I am heading to a destination. I know that the map to these coordinates is not clear but that each step of the way I will find a new piece of information and that is all that matters. In the past little while, I have found that figuring out the question is the hardest part, then the answers will apear. So beginning with a question seems like the right way to be heading. Why not let myself dream the way?

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