Notes from a Recovering Overplanner
Overplanning limits your potential. It’s a habit of mind that can be changed.
“Problem solving is an amazing skill, but it is so pervasive and useful that human beings find it extremely difficult to discern when it is useful and when it is not.”- Steven Hayes, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: The Process and Practice of Mindful Change
When I started graduate school my life was jam-packed in a way I found pleasurable and affirming. I continued working full-time while also leading the development of a new project for a nonprofit I was involved with. I didn’t want to give any of these things up. At this point in time I threw myself headlong into planning as a way of life. Every block of “free time” (i.e., not already dedicated to my work or class schedule) had a dedicated plan. Planning was magic: as long as I blocked out the time on my calendar, it happened.
There was another current to my overplanning. Recovering from a difficult time in my life, it helped pull me forward to know that I had committed to being somewhere or doing something most of the day. In fact, I had stumbled on a tenet advocated by practitioners of cognitive-behavioral therapy. Self-scheduling activities is a practical way to create expectations for oneself that prioritize valued action, and with tenacity this chain reaction can help one to heal.
I lived in a big busy house then, and my housemates were always buzzing with chitchat and activity. The dark side of my planning magic soon became painfully obvious: “Hannah, do you want to go to the park?” “Let me tell you about what happened to me today”---and I was always making my excuses as I rushed off. I was getting everything on my enormous to-do list done, but at the cost of day-to-day pleasures and connections. I noticed another unpleasant truth as well: while I was in planning mode, I was not very happy. It felt satisfying to accomplish so much expeditiously, but I felt pulled in every direction I planned for.
One branch of therapy known as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (or ACT) differentiates between mental states as “problem-solving mode” and “sunset mode”. This last term alludes to the idea that while you need the problem-solving capacities of your mind at times, there are other moments such as when appreciating a beautiful sunset that these faculties not only are not useful, but actually hinder engagement with what life has to offer.
So when noticing a frenetic problem-solving monologue racing through your head on repeat, ask yourself, “Is this the right time?” Another approach is to plan for planning. Meta, right? I find that if I give myself a time to plan then it doesn’t creep into my mind and legitimate itself as easily during those times when I’d really rather be doing something else. I block off a small amount of time before I start my work day, usually about half an hour, to organize my thoughts and tasks.
To be sure I don’t forget anything, I add tasks to a sort of running, categorized to-do list. I use Trello for this purpose but lots of programs, as well as old-fashioned paper and pencil, will do the trick. What’s important is that you have a place to write things down so they not only don’t get lost but, if you are like me, so you can mentally unclench your jaw and rest easy in the moment with the knowledge that you can devote mental real estate to other things. This is related to something called the Zeigarnik Effect, a psychological concept which describes that an unfinished task takes up more of our attention than a finished one. Putting items on a to-do list helps your brain feel like something is “finished” or at least in a good enough place that you don’t need to continue keeping tabs on it.
Planning costs you, and it’s worth evaluating whether the fare is worth the ride at any given time. The cost, of course, is that the pull of preoccupation diverts your attention from whatever lies immediately in front of you. This, in front of you, is real. The future you are preparing for might not be. In essence, you trade a little piece of immediate reality for a sense of protection. It is a good skill, but not one to be used without accepting this tradeoff.
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References and Notes
I understand that not everyone finds themselves sucked into this particular whirlpool, that there are folks who have trouble martialing their faculties long enough to make a grocery list. However, it seems that many of the people who come into my office, especially those with anxiety issues, do find themselves grappling with how their planning helps and limits them.
Hayes, S., Strosahl, K., Wilson, K. (2011). Acceptance and commitment therapy, second edition: the Process and practice of mindful change. New York: Guilford Press.
Wikipedia contributors (2019, February 22). Zeigarnik effect. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 01:59, March 6, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zeigarnik_effect&oldid=884542045