The Dangers of Planning

I have a weird obsession with planning. I love making and abiding by a schedule that includes a range of activities and tasks. I love feeling productive and like my time is used efficiently.

Perhaps going through my day with reason gives me a sense of purpose. I go to the gym to get stronger, I do my work to succeed in school, I get coffee with a friend to maintain a friendship, etc. I’ve also realized that I feel fulfilled when I am engaging in a range of activities. I think of my life as being composed of multiple categories, and I have goals within each that I am working towards every day.

I hate relaxing. Having time on my hands where I am not doing something “productive” makes me anxious. It brings up some type of guilt that I am still not fully able to understand.

Structure works for me… usually. When I have a routine or a plan for the future, I am motivated to take action. I crave the satisfaction that awaits me after completion. After accomplishing everything I “needed” for the day, I can go to bed feeling proud of myself.

But the problem is that oftentimes, a schedule shifts. External factors can get in the way, and often my physical or mental energy for the day does not suffice. It’s at this point where my anxiety kicks in: the par between some expectation I held for myself at one point in time and what I actually end up doing.

This happens much more frequently than I want to admit. Just like when I spend too much time “relaxing,” I feel guilty and mad at myself for being “lazy” or “underproductive” when I even stray away from my schedule slightly.

I’m realizing that a “perfect” schedule is impossible to sustain. I cannot create a plan that will work with any given day or week, for we and the world around us are constantly undergoing change. I cannot predict the future: a plan I set for tomorrow does not take into account certain determining elements that tomorrow holds.

As a matter of fact, sticking to a definitive schedule can become unhealthy. A strong example of this is assigning a strict plan around food. Our bodies are constantly changing every day, and the fuel we need today can be very different from what we’ll need tomorrow. The practice of intuitive eating refutes the habit of scheduling our food and encourages listening to our bodies and nourishing ourselves based on present cues. Holding ourselves to an eating plan that is too strict will prevent us from reaching our healthiest states, for it is only when we give our body what it truly needs that we can do so.

I’ve found that following a schedule too tightly also became unhealthy when it came to physical exercise. There could be a day where I felt like I “needed” to go to the gym but my body said the opposite, and I would still force myself to go and end up feeling worse. There were times where I actually ended up making myself sick by doing this. Or at the least, this weakened my immune system.

This holds for injuries too: when a part of the body is injured, the first priority should be to bring it to full recovery by taking care of it and letting it heal. As a dancer, I’ve had plenty of injuries. Yet of course, I’ve always hated sitting out of a dance class or even just “taking it easy.” By pushing my body too hard at the expense of a sprained ankle or weakened knee, I slowed down my recovery process on multiple occasions.

In the simplest of terms, this idea can be summed up into the saying “go with the flow.” For some, this might be easy. Yet for me, this is one of the most difficult things to do. Maybe when I’m out with friends I can do this: when I’m hanging out with others, it usually doesn’t matter what we do or where we go as long as I get to spend quality time with them. I think it’s easier for me to be flexible here because when I am with others, it is often during my previously designated “free time.” I complete my list of tasks, and only then can I indulge in doing “whatever,” which in my life often involves other people. However, on a day-to-day basis, I need a schedule. I need the motivation I generate from checking off items on my to do list. I need to wake up with some type of plan and purpose and to go to bed with a mix of satisfaction and continued drive.

And that’s okay. It works for me; it’s how I achieve the things I do and what helps bring me fulfillment. Yet my planning cannot come at the expense of my health, and that's where flexibility comes into play. The truth lies somewhere in the middle: planning has its positive effects and so does “going with the flow.” In the Game of Life, planning can be thought of as a useful tool. But as a general rule, health is flexibility. For the average person, the ideal mix of planning and flexibility is probably close to the middle. For me, it is closer to the “planning” end of the scale, yet it should not reach a place too far to that end.

To summarize:

• Planning is a tool we can use to create direction and structure which can increase our productivity

• Excessive planning is unnatrual because it prevents us from listening to our bodies and external elements which are subject to change

• Being flexible is healthy. It doesn't mean we shouldn't plan, but it's important to be adaptible to change and stay away from excessive rigidness.