The Problem with Planning

Goals. Deadlines. Plans. Expectations. Dreams. These are all good, at least in principle. Most of the time. As the old saying goes, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.” However, as a modern paraphrase of the Robert Burns poem also points out, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”

Plans are best written in pencil.

Sometimes, as most of us have discovered, plans aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. We encounter interruptions, unexpected obstacles, or our “ducks in a row” refuse to line up. Intentions that look so good one day fall short the next. Some have surmised that many of God’s greatest laughs must come as He previews our plans.

For many years I’ve been a strong advocate of goal-setting and planning. I learned to make constant companions of my day planners, and I’ve delighted in crossing off items on my to-do lists and writing in things to do in future days and weeks. Plan your work and work your plan. Our recent trip to Italy was the culmination on months of preparations. Just the other day, I scheduled my annual physical for next year. 

However, with the glorious 20:20 clarity of hindsight, I’ve learned plans should be elastic, sometimes even disposable. Because stuff happens – and sometimes it doesn’t. I think of aspirations I had in college; some of those came to fruition while others couldn’t have been more off-target. I couldn’t possibly have planned the directions my career would take or the things I would be able to achieve, along with the worthwhile goals I would never realize.

It’s humbling, sometimes humiliating, but always important to realize as much as we would like to believe the contrary, we’re not in control of many things that go on in our lives. As Proverbs 27:1 admonishes, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.”

But we need to plan, don’t we? It’s irresponsible to face each new day with no idea of what we’re going to do, right? Yes, it is. But we need to balance that necessity with a recognition that God’s thoughts of what we should undertake might be very different from our own. “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that’” (James 4:13-15).

In His “sermon on the mount,” Jesus offered a similar warning about being too presumptuous about the future, even one day ahead. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear… Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?... Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:25-34).

Someone has wisely observed that “life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” This doesn’t prohibit us from setting goals, planning for the future, or trying to figure out how to complete our “bucket list.” That new job or next promotion probably will require some preparations. Next summer’s vacation arrangements won’t take care of themselves. And forward-thinking for Christmas is well-advised. But these all should be filtered through a willingness to submit to God’s plans, knowing His are superior to our own.

As Jesus told his audience, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).

Ya Gotta Have a Plan!

As someone wise first observed, the road to failure – and lots of other bad places – is paved with good intentions. We have a worthwhile idea, fully intend to get around to it someday, but when “someday” arrives, we haven’t done anything.

The problem is, intentions without well-conceived plans – plans subsequently executed – are like clouds that one moment look white and fluffy, then dissipate moments later. Intentions are good. They serve as seeds for future endeavors, whether it’s learning a foreign language, acquiring skills to find a better job, deciding to take up a musical instrument, losing weight, improving a relationship, or growing closer to God.

Plans, without action, are
little more than good intentions.

But intentions are like the starting line of a race. They won’t get you to the finish line until they are activated with a specific plan in mind. Brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright are known as “the fathers of powered flight,” but it’s likely other people had similar ideas. They might even have intended to invent something to bring their ideas into reality. But the Wright brothers were the ones that did it, devising very specific plans and performing the hard work to carry out the plans.

The world’s greatest musicians, business leaders, surgeons, statesmen, writers, designers all started with a dream. But it didn’t stop there. The idea conceived was birthed through careful, intentional planning that spurred them on to action.

When you woke up this morning, did you have in mind something you intended to do? Have you done it yet? Have you taken even the first step toward getting it done? If not – why not?

There are many principles and philosophies that guide successful enterprises, but often they can be reduced to three simple questions: Where are we going? How are we going to get there? How will we know when we’ve arrived?

In other words, goals and objectives are of little value without plans in place for pursuing and achieving them. This is true not only for the business and professional world, but also for every other facet of living.

Let’s say you’re concerned about your physical conditioning and want to make improvements. Buying exercise videos or joining a fitness club might fortify your intentions, but unless you start putting those to use on a consistent basis – not once every week or three – your intentions will remain nothing more than wishful thinking. The attitude, “I love exercise. I can watch other people doing it for hours,” won’t tone your muscles or shed unwanted pounds.

What about something even more important, like spiritual growth? After all, the Bible observes, “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8). Again, many of us have wonderful intentions. We’d like to become wise, godly individuals, people that others would recognize as having a close walk with God. But intentions alone won’t get us there.

So we need a plan. And it’s not something another person can devise for us. We’re all uniquely, “fearfully and wonderfully made,” as Psalm 139:14 reminds us. God has a special, distinct plan for each of us, so what works for me might not work as well for you.

But in every case it should start with striving to know the Lord, and there’s no better way of doing that than spending time in His Word, where He reveals Himself as well as His commandments, laws and principles for everyday life.

After Joshua succeeded Moses in leading the Israelites, God told him, “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful” (Joshua 1:8).

Psalm 119, all 176 verses of it (by far the longest chapter in the Bible), repeatedly underscores the importance and value of knowing and following the teachings of Scripture. The psalmist states it plainly in writing about God, ”How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to Your word…. I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You” (Psalm 119:9,11).

However, there’s more to it than simply knowing what the Bible says. It also involves using it to formulate a plan for putting intentions into action. As the apostle Paul exhorted followers of Jesus in the city of Philippi, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:9).

And he wrote to his young protégé, Timothy, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

So if our desire is to know God and live fruitfully for Him, we need to move those intentions into a solid, workable plan, built on the foundation of His Word. Then, drawing from the wisdom and insight He gives us, we need to find answers to the three simple questions: When am I going? How am I going to get there? And how will I know when I’ve arrived?

Devise a plan that works – and work your plan.