Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Planning Toward Mediocrity

I've mentioned before that I am reading Jim Cymbala's book, Fresh Power. In the portion I read today there was a quote that made me pause.

"Most people plot and plan themselves into mediocrity, while now and again somebody forgets himself into greatness." – E Stanley Jones


If you asked my husband to describe me, I'm sure he would use the word "planner" somewhere in his description. Whenever we go out of town for even a weekend, it takes days for me to plan and prepare everything. In fact, it takes me longer to get us ready to go than we are ever actually gone! Any time that he brings up an idea for a trip or somewhere we should go visit, my mind immediately goes to planning mode. I come off as disinterested, when honestly, I'm already thinking, "call Karen about house sitting".... "make a menu list that will clean out the refrigerator/freezer"..... "clean upstairs 2 days before leaving"...."clean downstairs 1 day before leaving".... 

I think you get my point. Instead of embracing the excitement and thinking about the fun we would have, I immediately make the to do list. What if I just went with the excitement factor? What if I enthusiastically jumped in with both feet instead of immediately taking out the list and writing down who is responsible for what before being able to leave. Does it really matter if the grass gets mowed before we leave instead of waiting until we get back? Does it really matter if the house is spotless when we leave? Could I just take a breath, relax, and enjoy the journey instead of plotting and planning my way into mediocrity? Yes, some of the things that I do during that time do need to be done. But does it have to be done the minute Nate even suggests an idea? Do I end up destroying any excitement or joy he had with his idea with my planning mode? Does he just want to say, "You know what? Forget it." Could I maybe just forget myself and look to others for once and stumble into a great experience?  I think I might just give it a whirl!

6 comments:

  1. So are you now planning to forget yourself? ;)

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  2. I guess it does come off sounding like that! I meant forget about myself and look to others.... but I think you knew that already! ;)

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  3. Hi, my name is PAC and I'm a fellow planner who struggles with spontaneity. First step is admitting it! :-)

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  4. If we didn't have you to plan, we probably wouldn't even get someone to watch after Lucy. We're a team! Thanks for being the responsible teammate!

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  5. LOL, PAC! :) It is good to know that there are at least two members in our 12 Step program! I can think of a few others that may want to consider joining! :)

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  6. Thanks for being on my team, Nate!

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