Overplanning is Ruining Your Life

The perfect plan is crucial.

Are you sure?

Jerry Uelsmann, a professor at the University of Florida, divided his film photography students into two groups.

The first group was instructed to produce a single perfect photograph, while the second group was asked to create a series of photographs that were related to each other.

The result: All the best photos were produced by the second group.

While the first group sat around speculating about perfection, the second group improved their skills by taking lots of photos and learning from their mistakes.

“The best is the enemy of the good." Voltaire

Maybe this is too abstract for you.

So let’s see how this applies to a normal person.

Me.

My story

I spent the last 5 years “planning” how to become self-employed and make money.

Surprise: I’m not self-employed and spent more time planning than doing something to get there.

I’m always planning SOMETHING.

Some days I put planning xy on my To-Do list instead of just doing xy.

Sneakiest procrastination

Sometimes I catch myself “planning” to feel productive or busy.

One time a friend even texted me “Always you and your planning…”

Before starting this Twitter Account I spent 3 weeks planning how I’m gonna do it.

Surprise again: It was useless.

I learned the most by doing it.

Your plans won’t work anyways if you don’t have experience.

I unlearned it

Some of you might know that I had 2 YouTube channels in the past.

And let me tell you a lot of things have changed.

When I first started out I didn’t care about having the perfect plan.

I just started.

My first video was shit. (That doesn’t even come close to describing it)

It was horrible. (I’m cringing so hard right now)

But I just started and that’s what makes me proud.

I wrote the whole video script by hand and recorded my voice-over with my phone.

Somehow I unlearned how to “just start” and tried to be perfect when starting out.

But that’s not how it works.

But that's enough about me.

It’s about you guys.

So let’s take a look at how you can improve your life.

Why do we plan in the first place?

Planning can be super helpful for keeping your life in order.

When you do it right, it can totally help you feel less stressed, get more done, and even clear out some of the clutter.

I mean you wouldn’t go on a ride where you don’t know the way.

Would you?

So… why would you write a whole Newsletter about stopping to plan?

Because there are Some hidden dangers:

Planning is keeping you from achieving your dreams

You make it a habit to plan when you feel stressed or experience discomfort because it makes you feel good, it makes you feel productive, but it isn’t.

It’s the sneakiest form of procrastination.

You do something, but the thing is irrelevant.

You are putting off the tasks you should be doing.

It’s like telling other people your goals.

It releases dopamine similar to achieving them.

Just another form of self-sabotage.

And sometimes it doesn’t even deliver the desired results. No clarity whatsoever.

It can create even more stress because you plan so strictly and don’t think of possible failures and other responsibilities.

I’m guilty.

Planning or overplanning?

We all know that one.

But what if you plan so much that there is no time left to chop down the tree?

There is a fine line between planning and overplanning.

What the heck is overplanning?

It’s when you spend too much time planning, organizing, or worrying about the details, to the point where it becomes counterproductive or even harmful.

Overplanning can lead to anxiety, procrastination, and missed opportunities.

It allows you to hide, makes you inflexible, and leads to overthinking.

You keep planning and planning, hoping that you will eventually feel ready to start.

Let me tell you a secret: You won’t.

Signs that you’re planning too much:

• A lot of unstarted or abandoned projects

• You spend more time planning than doing

• You think too much about all the possible scenarios

• You’ve done lots of planning and have very little to show for it

• You always talk about what you gonna do, but you can’t show something

• You take a long time to start projects because you want to feel completely prepared

It’s not a mistake only beginners make.

You do it for years without even realizing it.

How to avoid it:

Don’t get me wrong, you need to have a plan.

That’s why I hate when people say you should “just start”.

You wouldn’t tell someone to start bench pressing, without knowing the technique.

You wouldn’t tell someone to drive somewhere, without knowing the route.

At least I hope so.

But we’ll deal with that another day.

The Mindset

First, you need to realize: Nothing will change if you don’t take action.

Just sit down and do the shit you need to do.

Nobody else is gonna do it for you.

Stop tricking yourself.

You need to be honest with yourself: Do you plan because you need to plan or is it just Mental Masturbation again?

It should be 10% Strategy and 90% Doing.

Typical mistakes

Let’s use starting a Personal Brand as an example.

I know I’m repetitive but you need a plan starting out.

But this plan should just include the first few weeks.

It doesn’t matter what you're gonna do if you reach 4735 followers.

You have no clue.

You don’t know how this stuff works.

Plan how you gonna start and then fucking start.

Maybe it’s hard but it isn’t complicated.

Same in the gym.

Get a workout plan and follow it.

You don’t need to plan how you're gonna change things in 73 days IF you are able to bench that specific weight and IF the stars are aligned in a specific way.

You won’t start at all.

Please don’t make the same mistakes I made in the past.

Don’t watch 20 Videos, buy 5 courses and read every available book before doing the first step.

We too often get stuck in preparation mode.

What you should do instead:

Give yourself one hour on the weekend to plan the following week.

Set a timer.

If you don’t like it you can change it the next week, but stop changing things in between just because you feel like it.

Just do the thing you are assigned to and do it.

There is a reason your past self planned it that way.

Don’t trick yourself.

Things are gonna fail, don’t get discouraged.

Tip: Schedule “free time”. Often our plans are designed for the perfect day, but most days aren’t perfect. One single delay will stress the fuck out of you and if you lose control your whole system will collapse.

So plan free time in which you can catch up on things if you need to.

Conclusion

Ideas are cheap, what matters is the work you put into making them a reality others can experience.

Don’t stop planning in general but reduce the time drastically.

Become self-conscious enough to realize if you’re just tricking and sabotaging yourself or if it’s really advantageous what you’re doing right now.

Leave the perpetual cycle of planning instead of doing.

If something doesn’t work out it doesn’t mean that you need to overthrow EVERYTHING.

Maybe you just need to adjust one or two smaller things.

If you liked this week’s letter feel free to share it with others who could need it.

Also, feel free to message me if you got something you would like me to talk about or if you have any questions.