Avoid Overplanning

Hi,

A common reason we get stuck procrastinating is that we shift from useful planning to detrimental overplanning.

Sometimes, this happens because we get lost in the process, and forget that planning is meant to be a means to an end. In those cases, it’s important to deliberately consider our goals, and then figure out how good our plan really needs to be to get us there. This can help us explicitly identify the point past which it’s no longer worth spending any more time on planning, so we can recognize when it’s time to move on to the next stage.

Other times, we procrastinate by overplanning because it helps us feel that we’re making progress while protecting us from the potential risks of actually taking action. When that happens, it’s useful to address our fears, including by figuring out what they are, questioning how likely it is that what we’re afraid of will happen, and preparing a clear way to move on if it does.

Either way, it’s also useful to remember that few plans are truly set in stone. Usually, we can—and should—adjust them over time, as we learn from our experience putting them into practice. This means that we shouldn’t worry about getting the plan perfectly right from the start, because it’s going to change over time anyway.

I hope you’ll find this helpful.

Have a great week,
Itamar