Planning and Impulses: Finding a Balance

One of the things that came to my mind in view of this topic is the popular statement; “He who fails to plan, plans to fail.” It's a common one with some realities in it, but do many people abide by this statement? As a fan of sports－football especially－I found myself discussing with my sibling some days about the place of tactical plans in the game of football and other sports as a necessity for victory, citing how tactical plans are also employed in military and wars for victory.

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It made me consider more than usual how plans are necessary to getting things done. I believe that as people generally, we make plans. The difference is moving from basic plans to making ones that take a level of intentionality and purpose. What do I mean? The fact that we plan to take our bath, cook, watch a movie and so on are basic plans that couldn't possibly require some intentionality. But the fact that we have them on mind as things to do makes them out to be plans.

So, somehow we all plan. Nevertheless, there's a level of planning that requires some sort of commitment and intentionality, not just something you do because you have them on mind. These are plans that you move with in life. But planning isn't that easy. Maybe planning is but the doing part or keeping to the plan is the big deal. I've heard of people who plan their activities to the smallest details; such as when to wash, cook, read, sleep, wake up and so on. That's an uneasy, profitable way of living. It's intentionality.

As a person, I go with plans and sometimes with impulses. I'm not into it like the kind of people described above, but I try to work with a plan. Some things require making plans which I do. These could be things I'll be doing perhaps not in the near future. Some are things I might do the next day, next week, next month or anytime soon in the future. And I've seen how important and helpful it is when you bring up a plan to your tasks, work, activities and so on.

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Planning gives direction which is essential in life, as opposed to working with impulses. Well, I'm not all about planning when doing things. There are times and moments where I just go with impulses and see how things turns out. It seems inevitable to avoid going with impulses sometimes even if we have plans. Some things come uninvited and instantaneously, and sometimes it's just that we can't put a plan to it due to how busy we are or the workload.

It's about plans sometimes and impulses take over at other times, especially when things are moving instantaneously and there's little possibility to make one work with. Nevertheless, making a plan is important and something to encourage, while also noting that not all plans go well. It's not always perfect, even if feasible.