There is an old adage that says, “This never time to plan, but always time to correct”.
While I certainly support and believe in planning, I have not always been the astute disciple of planning that I am today.
My first memories of planning always revolve around the familiar weekend projects of my early years when my father would begin the day at the kitchen table with his trusty yellow legal tablet scribbling out information, requirements, materials lists, an drawing a roughed in prototype of whatever it was to be constructed. Oddly enough nowhere on any scraps of paper I ever recovered from the trash or other waste receptacle could I find where it indicated my role as “clean up” or “holder of the other end of the board”. Nevertheless these tasks always appeared to befall to me with ease under the firm conviction of my father.
In my formative teenage years I experienced additional opportunities to use planning, albeit I didn’t see the value in this at the time. Normally these opportunities would present themselves at later moments in the form of questions from many of my hometown’s public officials and servants.
“Where were you going in such a hurry Mr. Adams?”
“Mr. Adams, how is it you missed English class 4 days in row, yet you were at all the other classes before and after English, can you explain that?”
“Son didn’t you know that fence was electrified?”
These but are many of the opportunities life presented to me in those early years in an attempt to help me understand early on the value and the need for planning.
So why is it that we take so little time in life to stop, consider, plan and then take action? Can we blame it on the “now” generation? Has the Microwave Oven spoiled us? Did Nescafe Instant Coffee offer such a trend that we needn’t consider where to stop for coffee anymore, nullifying all need for planning our morning ritual commute to the office (Thank-You Starbucks for correcting that little anomaly)?
Well friends I think not. I think that the lack of stopping to plan things is a rich American tradition that is has been embedded on us through the rich tradition of storytelling that has morphed into that thing we now call television.
After all, look at all of the classic examples we were taught growing up and consider how they may have had an impact on us:
· What would have become the seven stranded castaways if the Skipper would have left a detailed course chart with someone and had followed the US Coast Guard guidelines and had an emergency water proof radio beacon?
· If Uncle Jed was smart enough to move to “Beverly” then maybe some financial planning other than Mr. Driesdale and Miss Jane would have been in order.
· If every time Tonto goes to town by himself he gets in trouble, then perhaps some careful planning by the Lone Ranger could have helped. Maybe he could remove the mask, go to town and get the groceries, then put the mask back on later.
· If the Starship Enterprise runs on Dilythium Crystals, then why can’t they carry some spare ones? It seems to me that since they tended to burn out and strand the ship years from home that having a cigar box full of them somewhere in the Captain’s quarters may have made sense.
· Another great Star Trek lesson under the heading of “a total lack of planning” has to go to the Romulan idiot who invented the cloaking device that has to be turned off before you can shoot your weapons at the enemy, making you completely vulnerable in the process.
There are wonderful examples everywhere of a lack of planning and the intense rush to success blindly with hopes of accomplishment. The truth is that when we can wait, slow down, and plan before hand we normally improve the chances of that success greatly. I encourage you to break free from your bonds of instinctual impulse to gain immediate success and gratification (unless it’s a quickie or just a one-night stand) and plan!
Take time to evaluate the final outcome you want to achieve and then engage in the actions to accomplish it!
No comments:
Post a Comment