Planning Your Work and Working Your Plan

I love a good heist movie. I like all the players too; the smooth talker, the tech guy, the action guy, the guy(s) with the random expectedly useful skillset. I like watching it all unfold including the random unexpected events that threaten to derail everything and the way the players adapt. What really does it for me though, is the planning. Working out every detail; the timetable, and working out what tools are needed including the cast, is just sexy to me.

I’m a bit of a planner myself though certainly not up to the standards required for a multi-million dollar heist. I find it exciting; calculating it all, laying out all the detail, and then executing, knowing full well that it will never go exactly according to the plan. It’s the exercise that does it for me. It almost doesn’t matter whether or not I am successful though I make considerable effort to do so. It’s part of the magic and joy I see in life and my contribution to it that ensures that it is always present should I choose to partake.

I recently had a good talk with one of my brothers. Our conversations tend to be deep and involved and this one turned to what we look for and see in our friends. I won’t give away his formula but mine tends to favor those who plan and execute. It doesn’t matter what the plan is or how intricate it is. It’s inspiring, attractive, and just plain sexy. It takes like sweet garlic alcohol and feels like real living. Those people that I consider my friends are such people and I am glad to have them in my life. Those without this quality tend to fade into the background of my life. It is not that they are bad or foolish or wrong, just not very interesting.

That old saying that goes, “People don’t plan to fail, they just fail to plan”, I really believe that.