Planning takes time. Sometimes planning leads to over planning. Which can lead to inaction. But a well executed plan can lead to success. Hard and thoughtful work pays off in the long run.
Improvising doesn’t take much time at all. Just a vision and a playful spirit. Sometimes it can lead to mistakes or wasted time. But there is typically action involved. And sometimes wonderful and unexpected results.
Plans are necessary in certain situations. Open heart surgery is a good example. As are meeting agendas, which often keep things on time and on task. Or when training for a big competition. By taking care of the nuts and bolts you can focus on performing under pressure. And a polished, practiced plan can lead to a high rate of success over time.
There are times when spontaneity and improvisation are ideal. Not having a plan allows you to learn as you go by getting your hands dirty and doing new things. You can make it personal and create something all your own. The work becomes almost meditative, loose and artistic, enjoyable in and of itself and not because of the desired outcome.
Take for example the small greenhouse I built this weekend. I’d never built one before but have dreamed about doing it for a while. I could have bought a kit on Amazon.com for less than a hundred dollars. But it didn’t sit well with me to follow someone else’s directions and vision, even though it might have been easier to do. I wanted something that was mine. So, I got an idea in my head and built it in a day. And now I’ve got a place for all my seedlings to stay warm and safe.
I learned what a project like that requires and the skills and math involved. I also took pleasure in the meandering and pensive path that unravelled and lost track of nearly six hours of my day. I wasn’t stuck following a predefined plan. I was inventing and playing in real time. It reminded me of building forts in the backyard as a kid.
It’s ok to have projects with and without plans. But maybe the ones we think need a plan don’t and the ones we think don’t do. The need is dictated by what you want to get out of the process. Is it the process? Or the product? Sometimes there are unexpected rewards to both.
With plans we know the expected outcome ahead of time and if we execute well we get what we want. With improvisation we get to delight ourselves with something all our own even though the results aren’t guaranteed.
So what’s your preference: planning or improvising? There isn’t a wrong choice.
Thanks for reading.
