Is there a need to have a plan?

It was a typical off day in year 2002. I just came back from a five-day operating pattern to Manchester, UK the day before. As scheduled, I had three off days in a row to get rid of the jetlag before the next flight.

I woke up around ten in the morning. After brushing up, having breakfast and reading newspapers, I was at a loss of what to do next. I thought of continuing reading the many self-help books on various topics that I have started reading but never got the chance to finish. Then I thought I would do that after checking my emails. So I switched on my computer. While reading through the emails, I was distracted by one of the junk mails. (Yes, I received many offers on penis enlargement too. Of course I deleted all of them. You mean you actually read them?) It directed me to a website that offers a brilliant business opportunity. It prompted me to discover further. And I ended up surfing a long string of websites ranging from desktop publishing, website hosting, graphics animation to blogs and online magazine.

When my stomach started grueling, I was in the midst of reading some gossip news about Jennifer Lopez. So I called a good friend of mine for lunch. He happened to be my colleague also and he said that a few more other colleagues were joining us as well. So we ended up having a long lunch and coffee and gossiping session. (What do pilots usually gossip about? Next post.) If not for the fact that two of my colleagues had to go to fetch their wife from work, we could have continued to have dinner and beer!

After dinner, the night was spent watching TV and surfing on the internet. Before I knew it, it was time for bed and I had hardly achieved anything! When I was lying on bed and trying to figure out what I had done today and what to do tomorrow, my mind just went blank. Had I worked out my detailed plan last night and had the discipline to carry out the plan today, I would have felt much more happy and satisfied.

Do you have similar experiences? A lot of my cabin crew colleagues often ended up buying a lot of other things that were not needed when they went shopping in Xiang Yang Market in Shanghai. Xiang Yang Market has a lot of imitation branded goods that are going for rock bottom prices compared to the originals. And if you are not disciplined enough to stick to your initial shopping list (if you have one i.e.), you are most likely ended up buying lots of rubbish. Same situation occurs in a 100 Yen Shop in Japan where all the merchandise in the shop is selling at 100 yen before tax.

Some of us might argue that we should take life easy. We are already working so hard trying to meet datelines and various targets. Why can’t we just spend an off day without having any plan? Well, the decision of not having any plan is also a plan itself. The point here is we have to put in some conscious effort to think about what to do. Should we decide not to do anything, that itself is also a course of action.

But very often, we either implement our own plan or fit into others’ plan. Like what had happened to me as described above, since I didn’t have a plan, I ended up following what the web providers wanted me to do: read their webpage to facilitate their business. If I had worked out a plan to limit myself on the internet usage, I would have more time to read my self-help books and achieve much more for the day. If I don't have a shopping list, I will end up following what the shop-keepers wanted me to do: buy things from all of them! Well at least, buying more than necessary.

Taking it further towards life, if I don’t have a plan for my life, I’ll be like a horse controlled by my rider, going where he wants me to go. Imagine yourself living through each day without directions, will you be able to achieve anything significant? Fifty years down the road, will you be able to produce a happy answer when someone asks you “What is your biggest achievement in life?”

“Oh, nothing much really, I just live through each day without giving much thought to what I really wanted out of my life.” Surely you can come out with a happier answer than that!

Having a plan for myself gives me control over my time, my space and my life.