On Making Plans And Decisions

So, what's the plan?

Maybe you've been asked this question before. Usually in situations where some guidance is needed as to what the next step should be. What now? Where do we go from here? What do you think we should do? It's always good to have a plan. It's not a bad idea to make a plan. Know where you're going and what you're trying to achieve. That's why Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney stress this important point in their book Willpower: "The first step in self-control is to set a clear goal." (p. 62) And in order to reach that goal you need a plan. Just make sure it allows for some flexibility, which is why you should probably avoid making daily plans:

"Daily plans do have the advantage of letting the person know exactly what he or she should be doing at each moment. But their preparation is time-consuming, because it takes much longer to make thirty daily plans than a broad plan for the month without any daily details. Another drawback of daily plans is that they lack flexibility. They deprive the person of the chance to make choices along the way, so the person feels locked into a rigid and grinding sequence of tasks. Life rarely goes exactly according to plan, and so the daily plans can be demoralizing as soon as you fall off schedule." (p.72)

As long as you keep in mind that "life rarely goes exactly according to plan" (and I'm sure you all agree), it can be quite helpful to make a plan - monthly or even yearly - that allows you to reach your goals while giving you the flexibility to live and enjoy your life.

But life is not just about making plans - it also requires us to make decisions on a daily basis; some small, some large. Having to make too many decisions can be exhausting and has a negative effect on our willpower. Here are Baumeister and Tierney again:

"The link between willpower and decision making works both ways: Decision making depletes your willpower, and once your willpower is depleted, you're less able to make decisions. If your work requires you to make hard decisions all day long, at some point you're going to be depleted and start looking for ways to conserve energy..." (p. 98)

Maybe you will look for ways to postpone or even avoid making a decision. Or you'll just go with the easiest one (which is obviously not always the right one). It's not just people with tough jobs that have to deal with this problem though. We live in a world with way too many options and choices (just think about the number of different cereals you can choose from in the supermarket) and it's not necessarily doing us any good. The authors of Willpower even go so far as to claim that this is the main reason for the "singleness" of so many young (and not so young) people these days:

"This form of procrastination helps explain why so many people put off the biggest choice of their lives: picking a mate. In the middle of the twentieth century, most people married by their early twenties. But then more options opened for both sexes..." (p. 99)

We just have too many options and it leads us to not want to choose at all! Why? Because choosing is tiring. In 1995 "Manhattan had the highest percentage of single people of any county in America except for an island in Hawaii originally settled as a leper colony." (p. 100) :-) Need I say more? And you thought life in the 21st century was easier and better than ever...