Plan For Everything – Plan For Nothing

I haven’t been around for a bit because things have gotten busy.  Planning a move, change of roommates, getting out a new book, and much, much more I’ve probably repressed.  In fact, I just started a new book, so this is a great time to talk about something we need to plan for as writers.

Nothing.

No, I don’t mean we should plan for everything, since we can’t (and as a Project Manager that bugs me, since it’s my job).  I mean now and then you should have time where there is nothing planned in your life.  Period.

Why?  Beyond the possible advantages of sanity, it’s because we all need buffer time. To one extent or another we’re all lousy at planning.

Good, precise, planning is rare because life is big, crazy, and messy.  No matter how much we want to structure it, we cannot.

On the other hand, good planning is necessary for success.  We need to know that B follows A, we need to know how to make things happen, we need to get results.  But we keep running into the issue of You Can’t Plan For Everything.

So what I’ve started doing is planning for Nothing.

Oh, sure I have some plans.  But what I do is leave times where there’s nothing scheduled — not even recreation (I schedule that too, of course).  It’s just a big blank time in my calendar.

That time gets filled, however, because I get interrupted, find things I forgot, need a break, or whatever.  I know these things are coming — I just don’t know what they’ll be or where.  So I’ve found leaving a buffer very helpful.

A buffer also removes the sense of guilt we get for not being able to plan everything.  It acknowledges our limits and lets us get on with our work.

So far it’s helped me a great deal — I’m even more productive because when that buffer rolls around I can adapt to whatever my needs are.  I’m not overplanned or overstructured, and the lack of pressure makes me more active.

Give it a shot and let me know how it works out.

Because now, I got a book to get back to….

Steven Savage, ProGeek

Steven Savage, self-described “professional geek”, is the main blogger of the Fan To Pro blog, writer (Fan To Pro, and Convention Career Connection), runs a newsletter on geeky trends, and is the mind behind the popular Seventh Sanctum site. You can find out more about him at his web site, or contact him at: