Making Planning Fun!

Making Planning Fun!

If I can create the minimum of my plans and desires, there shall be no regrets.

So said Bessie Coleman, the first female pilot of African American descent to earn her international pilot’s licence in 1921. Sadly Bessie died during one of her preparatory flights (she was a stunt pilot) at the age of just 34, but even by this young age, she had achieved her dream to ‘amount to something’ having gained the admiration of the people in her industry and the crowds who flocked to her stunt shows.

Stories like this inspire and dare us to live a bigger life, but in the back of our minds we often think that this kind of achievement is just too much and can only be done by others. Maybe they were driven in a way that we just don’t identify with, or maybe we’re not that much of a risk-taker!

But What Do You Actually Want To Do?

The truth is that we’re all driven, but only by the things that are interesting to us. We’ve all got aspirations, and whilst those aspirations may drive us, they could be a complete turn off for the next person. And for that, I’m thankful, otherwise, by now there would be helipads on the peak of Mount Everest and train trips deep into the Amazon jungle!

I think the thing to remember is that whilst we may be inspired by what others have done, we don’t automatically need to assume that we must achieve the same. There are many accolades to be had in this world, and ultimately their pursuit is completely personal.

Do you…

• Want to be the best mother/father in the world?
• Run a marathon?
• Meet a particular celebrity?
• Bake the best cakes?
• Raise loads of money for charity?

The list of possible accomplishments is endless. But whether or not you’re a risk taker or seek a more steady life, Bessie’s quote is a great mantra to live by.

That’s Life!

But if you’re anything like most people, it can seem like life just seems to happen. We get up each day, perhaps with a loose plan for the things we want to get done, but before we know it, our plans have been forgotten as the latest emergency or unexpected pleasant surprise crosses our path.

• The last minute needs for school only just remembered by your child;
• The heavy traffic making you late for your first meeting;
• The latest ‘urgent’ task that must be done now;
• The unexpected friend who happens to be calling in later on their way to wherever;

But Victor Hugo reminds us that:

He, who every morning plans the transactions of the day, and follows that plan, carries a thread that will guide him through a labyrinth of the most busy life.

And that’s great advice, but I would tend to take it a step further and say that if we want to achieve things that we value in our lives, our planning will need to be more than just daily. After all, you can hardly get up one morning and decide you’re running a marathon if you haven’t prepared well ahead!

But as someone who enjoys and promotes the setting of goals, I haven’t been as fluent in my execution of travel goals this year. Consequently, we’ve recently found ourselves reminiscing over our 2015 travels and lamenting that we haven’t done as much in 2016!

This, of course is only partially true. Our commitments in 2016 have been different and to some extent have determined what’s been possible, but if I’m being totally honest with myself, 2015 had just as many, although different, challenges.

Where Was The Planning?

No, the real culprit in this reduction of activity has been the lack of planning. 2015 was characterized by a strongly articulated and fully-committed-to goal of visiting 12 Cities in 12 Months. This year, there was just a loose theme of ‘Castles and Coast’. Consequently we’ve enjoyed some visits to places we hadn’t previously been, but there’s been no real catalyst… the how many and when wasn’t fully expressed and has resulted in a wishy-washy result.

Do you recognise this tendency in your own planning? Do you think to yourself, or even discuss with others the things you’d like to do, be or have in the comings weeks, months or year(s) but then fail to capture your thoughts on paper?  And if you haven’t captured that information, how can you put strongly articulated goals together that truly define how your life is going to look?

Then as I’ve said above, and will repeat here, you could be looking at this…

But if you’re anything like most people, it can seem like life just seems to happen. We get up each day, perhaps with a loose plan for the things we want to get done, but before we know it, our plans have been forgotten as the latest emergency or unexpected pleasant surprise crosses our path.

As far as travel goals are concerned, this has been my experience so far this year. So having recognised this, what am I doing about it?

Adding In The Fun

Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans. It is lovely to be silly at the right moment.
Horace

As much as I love planning, I also like novelty and spontaneity. Whilst I like researching new things to do, my plans can sometimes be limited by my own reservations and perceived limitations. So, we’ve decided to add a little bit of fun into making our travel plans for 2017, and we’re starting now.

We’ve found an empty jar and labelled it the ‘Mystery Travels 2017 Jar!’. Between now and Christmas we’re going to secretly add plans to the jar without telling the other what we’re thinking about. These can be words or pictures, or whatever, as long as it conveys the idea.

During our Christmas break we’re going to empty the jar and based on what’s inside, set our travel goals for 2017. There’s just a couple of rules: (1) this is for day/weekend trips only (2) nothing is barred!  Simple and hopefully fun!

Is this an idea you could use for your own planning?  Clearly this is a group activity that lends itself well to travel, organising the content of  celebrations or family get-togethers, or maybe even date nights?  Knowing you need to add to the jar forces you to come up with a few original ideas rather than the same-old things, thereby stretching your experiences outside your usual comfort zone.

Doing this has added an element of surprise and anticipation to our planning and I already can’t wait to open the jar!

What do you think?  Could this fun planning method motivate you to take action?!  I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas…you never know, they could make it to the jar!!

Update!

Filling and emptying our planning jar has now become an exciting annual tradition!  In fact, we’ve now upgraded to an ornamental owl – The Travel Owl (very original ha ha!!) and are happily filling and emptying it each year.

You can find out where our Travel Owl is taking us by checking in on my annual goals!

Photo: Daniela Cuevas, Unsplash