Did you ever look forward to something so much you could hardly wait? But in order to get there you had to have a “plan?”For some, the planning process is almost as exciting as the event itself. Not to stereotype, but planners are usually people who walk around with a date book, PDA, and pen and paper at the ready to make to-do lists. And if you catch them off guard, you’re sure to get a glimpse of the smoke emanating out of their ears as they’re running through a mental checklist of all the details they need to accomplish. I should know I’m one of “them.”
If you’re not a planner, let me start by explaining our thinking process.
Stage 1 – The dream! The planner starts by conjuring up some dream or goal they wish to accomplish. Usually the conversation in their mind goes something like this. “Man if I had “A” I’d really be able to do “B” and if I had “C” well I’d be able to do “B” like nobody’s business.” At this stage, the planner is in a starry dream-like state just floating along on a billowy cloud. They’ve created their own little piece of heaven that keeps them going until they’re ready for…
Stage 2 – The list! Every “true” planner is a devout list maker. The to-do list is our drug of choice and spreadsheets, well, don’t even get me started. The other day I was even browsing the Internet looking for project-management software. Not for my business, but for me, so I could plan more efficiently, better, faster, more powerful than a locomotive.
But recently, I’ve learned that often times planning doesn’t go quite as well as you had, well, planned. Or more profoundly put by poet Robert Burns, “the best lain plans often go awry.” Here’s a great example. You may have noticed, I haven’t written a column in a while. Why is that? Well, there are many factors, but a big part of it has to do with the following incident. A couple months ago my brilliant, tech-savvy nephew came to me and said, “Hey, Aunt Kathy, I think you need to update your Web site. It’s getting a little stale and there are so many cool things you could add to it.”
“Yeah, like what?”
“Well, first of all you could make it more dynamic, add a blog, and bring it into the 21st century so it’s not so lame.” Spoken like a true 16 year old.
“You know, my Web designer was saying the same thing.” And, here’s where Stage 1 kicks in. “Yeah, then I could add some of my cartoons, videos, and pictures. Wow, it’ll be awesome! And once the site is up, I’ll blog every day, start writing my column regularly, and maybe even another book. Sure, let’s do it.”
Two months later…
“Aunt Kathy, I can’t get the Web site to work. The database won’t load and I keep getting error messages. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I think it’s your Web host.”
“Great, just great.” On to Stage 2.
1. E-mail host to see what problem might be.
2. Research problem on the Internet.
3. Research other hosts.
4. Make a decision.
Meanwhile, none of this really explains why I haven’t been writing except for the fact that we planners like to do things in order. So in my mind, until this site is up and running, I can’t write. Obviously, since you’re reading this column, you’ve realized that I’ve “seen the light,” and know I was operating under the “without order comes chaos” theory. However, I’ve just proven that too much order can also cause chaos.
Anyway, I know I’m not the only one who suffers from this over zealous organizing tendency, so I was thinking about starting a support group. Of course this would take some “planning,” starting with a name for the group. I wanted to make sure it was something relatable, but also had a cool acronym. Over Organizers Anonymous is an option, but although OOA might be something you yell when your planning goes awry, I’m really leaning toward something more like Over Planners Anonymous or OPA. It reminds me of the movie Big Fat Greek Wedding and OPA is a Greek exclamation used to express joy, approval, or encouragement. Thought that was quite fitting ‘cuz we planners sure do love our planning.
I don’t know when I’ll actually get around to starting this group, but I do know one thing, I better start planning. OPA!
