December 6, 2009

Stick to the plan. Stick to plan. Stick to the..

Here’s to all the people who have their entire life all planned out. To all the people who have made a timeline for every detail and upcoming milestone. People who look at the future not as a place of uncertainty but as a leather bound day planner.

So instead of raising my glass to you “organized folk” I want to splash my champagne flute in your face.
Now that I have your attention, please give me a moment to explain. Here’s a dry towel. Sorry.
This is how I look at it. Unless you have a special edition lifetime guarantee stamp- your plans are a charade. You can sketch, make diagrams and map out your ideal life plan, but realistically you have no idea where you will be tomorrow let alone 5 years from now. You can plan the year you want to get married, how many children you want and exactly how you will receive that promotion- but it may not turn out that way.
Sure I get lost in daydreaming about my future. Who doesn't? But I try not to get too attached to my thoughts. Nothing is set in stone as the cliché goes. This doesn’t mean I’m advocating throwing away your goals, ambitions or dreams. I just don’t feel the need to plan out how it will all happen because I don’t have those answers.
If a fortune teller came to me with a crystal ball to show me how my entire life would pan out I would slam the door in her precocious face. Seriously lady, you’re creeping out the children and my puppy. Please leave.
I also feel that people who plan too much won’t handle life’s curveballs as well as us non-planners. If you want to get married by the age of 26 and you’re still single- how will you handle that?
So I say throw your day planner out the window. (Not your regular planner with appointments, socials, & deadlines. I love my planner so much it hurts. Thanks to my sister who gave me this one as a gift. It's a beauty)

So here’s to all the people who have no idea how it will all turn out. People who know what they want but don’t have a strict no nonsense timeline attached to it. The people who understand that whatever gets in the way may not actually be an obstacle but something greater than the original plan. 


  1. Beautifully written and couldn't agree with you more!

  2. Yayy! The coach planner made it on the blog. I was actually hoping you wouldn't like it so I could snag it. What is it with us and day planners?

    Very true post. Some people just don't see things that way..... what a shame

  3. "Unless you have a special edition lifetime guarantee stamp- your plans are a charade."
    LOVE IT!

  4. Something greater than the original plan.

    Talk to my parents. They resisted my change ever since I sent my YES to Western. I was going to be a doctor, ever since I was 5. Dr. Eng. Doesn't sound quite right.

    I don't believe in plans either. It takes away from the wonder of life.

  5. I'm a total planner. I plan everything from boyfriends to bathroom breaks. Yes, it is incredibly stressful when things don't go to plan, nor can you plan for everything. But the security and satisfaction gained from when things do go to plan is worth it. You know that you deserved that victory, however small, because you spent the time planning it.

    - Juliemac

  6. Christina TacconelliDecember 7, 2009 at 1:24 AM

    Amanda, you know me...I have ZERO plans. I am a huge advocate for living each day to the fullest and just letting things fall into place on their own (carpe diem ring a bell?).People spend soo much time planning that they forget to actually live. Sad if you ask me.

  7. I guess it all depends on how you look at planning. For you Julie planning seems to work and give you a sense of accomplishment. For others it just provides added stress and it is unnecessary. I try not to get caught up in planning my future and hope it will all work out somehow.

    Oh and Dr. Eng definitely doesn't suit you Cara! lol

  8. I'm a planner...Chris isn't. Planning keeps me sane but makes him insane! lol. I add organization to his life and he adds spontaneity to mine - it works :) I think a healthy balance of both always works....everything in moderation :D

  9. I use to be a big life planner. Growing up in Guyana ingrains strict life plans/deadlines and following the straight and narrow.
    When I moved here, that same attitude blew up in my face, I had to learn to adjust and roll with the tides.
    This is one of my all time favourite quotes from Plato regarding life plans.

    "Deliberation. We must accept what has happened as we would the fall of the dice, and then arrange our affairs in whatever way reason determines to be best.
    We mustn’t hug the hurt part and spend our time weeping and wailing like children when they trip.
    Instead, we should always accustom our souls to turn as quickly as possible to healing the disease and putting the disaster right, replacing lamentation with cure." - Plato, Republic (604c-d)

  10. I used to be a big planner also. Yet here I am a 27, back in school and starting all over. Needless to say my "original plans" have failed not once, not twice but three times now. The key I think is accepting it. It's like George Bernard Shaw said "Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."
    That being said, I also carry a fantastic planner and seriously organize my day to days. Is it sad that I'm beyond excited that it's almost 2010 and I get to go pick out a new planner? It's the little things that amuse us! Great post!

  11. Bernard and Michelle your quotes are so inspiring! Thanks for the great insight. Michelle I can't wait to buy my new refills for my planner, I don't know if I should change it up and get burgundy instead of gold! lol

  12. personally i dont have a concrete plan set inn stone, however, i do have guidlines on where i wana be in a certain amount of time, a general age of wen i want to get married, a general idea of when i wanna have my kids...but nothing is evert set in stone, things come up all the time that change everything and most of hte time they are unexpacted. As jonney deep says in blow "Life passes most people by while they're making grand plans for it." We are always htinking of what we could do but never actualy going anything.....we need to find that righ personal balance btw making some plans so we have some direction and not making too many so he best times of our lives dont pass us by.

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  14. If your going to plan your life, you may as well do it with the new Smythson fashion books designed by Erdem.

    Love these!

  15. Here here! I think I have a plan but not really. I'm more for taking one day at a time, and tackling whatever I can as I can.