I realized yesterday that one of my really strong talents is the ability to plan to plan.

I can get a good one together….get all my ducks in a row….line everything up….and plan like a manic planning monkey.

I can do that if I ever get over the hump of getting to the actual planning stage.

My intentions are good….I can plan to plan with the best of them.

I really do plan….to get a plan together.

Maybe the whole “plan” thing is the problem?

Maybe it would be better to just jump in and make adjustments along the way….just take the leap and then figure out the most ergonomic way to hit the water on the way down?

I don’t think that I’m ever going to come up with a foolproof plan.

Even if I did come up with a foolproof plan, by the time the plan is finished, I’m exhausted from planning….and probably, in best ADD fashion, have started chasing some other butterfly.

So the whole planning thing is kind of a wash.

Maybe the beauty of planning is that it gives me a false sense of action?

Finding the perfect reflective vest before I start running in the dark again is going to keep me from….running in the dark again.

There’s no such thing as “the perfect reflective vest”…but looking for it takes time….and taking time to look for it keeps me in my comfortable seat….and staying in my comfortable seat keeps me from breathing hard out on the road.

So, it’s all a dodge.

They say that if you’re failing to plan that you’re planning to fail….but if all you do is plan…

If all you do is plan….

If all you do is plan….(where am I going with this?)…if all you do is plan, you never fail….because you never have to try.

Sounds good.

Speaking of “sounding good”….how about the folks who always have a plan that sounds like it’s action packed?

You know….the ones who share everything.

They make me feel bad.

Until I figure out that it’s just a bunch more smoke that they’re blowing, I feel kind of bad.

“Why can’t I ever figure out how to sail a hot air dirigible around the world to raise money for simian cancer awareness?!! DANG!!!”

Later, when I ask them how the view was from up there, when I ask them how the monkeys are, they look at me like they don’t know what I’m talking about.

It was just more smoke.

A good plan is impressive….but not as impressive as a good plan that’s actually executed with a successful outcome.

Most of my success is of the “huh…I didn’t see that coming….” variety.

And that’s just my reaction.

I’m going to get some kind of plan together. It makes the people around you who depend on you kind of nervous if you don’t seem to have a plan.

You need a plan.

So here’s a plan…love my family, pay my bills, stay employed….and figure out how to build a gypsy caravan so we can go out to Idaho and raise sheep on the mountainside, build a solar-powered art studio, sell work in Europe where they fly us all out for the latest opening,
build a music studio that attracts talent from all over the world to record in the beautiful and peaceful Northern Idaho locale where we live, write 57 children’s books that become perennial bestsellers and let the money continue to pour in for generations to come, have a successful seminar business where I teach millions how to escape the rat race and become independently wealthy, start some great charities with my post rat race free time, sail around the world, climb the highest mountains, build my own house (twice), learn to fly, start a syndicated comic strip that I draw for 10 years and then suddenly retire, live….LIVE! BREATHE AND LIVE!!….see animals that are disappearing and figure out how to protect them from extinction, save the rainforest, employ all my talents and enthusiasms in my vocation, have time to pursue an avocation while I’m making a living, take shelter under the cloud while others flee to carts and sheds.

That’s enough for now….to much of a good thing is still too much of a good thing.