Monday, August 18, 2008

When Scheduling Is Counterproductive

As most of you probably know, I'm a pretty big fan of schedules and really just organization in general. Many of my posts have raved on the benefits of the power of a focus and some clearly defined goals. But scheduling has a dark side, too. Scheduling itself can become a distraction from actually completing your goals. This might not be a problem for most people, but for me, the mathematical process of breaking down a goal into workable and easily executed sections is quite enjoyable - indeed, it is generally the most enjoyable part of my day.

The problem with reaching our goals, however, has far more to do than mathematical processes. If simply coming up with a good plan were all that was required to reach our goals, I think we'd all have reached our goals (which quite honestly, sounds like a boring life). The truth is that there is a human component to it all. And I've found that scheduling and planning can easily become the excuse to not executing our goals. Now, I'm not a proponent of just jumping into things without planning or thinking them through, but sometimes, you just have to take advantage of that motivation when it hits you, lest you be consigned to some cold corner of a coffee shop endlessly mapping out your unreachable destinies.

-Taylor

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I so identify with this and have been guilty of doing the exact thing you describe!! My version has included endlessly adding to a To Do list until it covers every action I will carry out for the next month...and accomplishing little else!