When Plans Get Messy

You can’t always control exactly how the plans you have for making changes in your life and work pan out. It's something I've known for a long time and am being reminded of at the moment.

I recently turned 60 and decided it was time for some changes in my personal and professional life. Over the summer, I started working on turning those plans into reality. One involves moving to a new place. The other involves launching an updated version of my main programme and making some changes in my business.

What I hadn't planned was for both to happen at exactly the same time. But that's increasingly how things are looking. The move now looks as though it could coincide almost exactly with the changes I'm making in my business. Not ideal. It's going to be messy. It's going to be a lot of work juggling both and keeping everything running smoothly.

But that's a price I'm willing to pay to make the changes that will allow me to live and work the way I want in this next chapter. I'd rather deal with a messy, challenging few months because two things I really want are happening at once than delay one of those opportunities just because it doesn't fit neatly into how I would ideally have liked the plan to work out. In the grand scheme of things, it's a short-term inconvenience.

And that's one of the realities of creating the life and work you want. You can't control it all. Much of it evolves as you go.

Plans matter, but so does being willing to change them when opportunities arise, or things head in a direction you didn't plan, but that will benefit you in the longer term.

Sometimes creating a different way to live and work and making change happen can feel hard, disruptive, inconvenient, and messy.  The important thing is being willing to sit in that messiness for a while, adapt as you go, and keep moving towards what you want.

Because the path of making change doable is never linear. But it's worth navigating that path, and whatever it throws at you along the way, to create the life and work you want.

When you're making changes in your life or work, and things get messy, keep these three things in mind:

1. Play the long game.

Sometimes short-term inconvenience, disruption and messiness are the price you pay for making changes that will give you the life and work you really want in the longer term. Keep your focus on what you're working towards.

2. Have a plan, but stay flexible and adaptable.

A plan gives you direction, but don't become so attached to it that you miss opportunities when circumstances change.

3. Remember that change is rarely linear.

Expect things to evolve, change direction and occasionally not go according to plan. It's the nature of change. Set your expectations accordingly, and it becomes much easier to deal with it when it happens.

The bottom line:

The important thing to remember is that change doesn't have to go according to plan to get you where you want to go. Keep your focus on the longer term, stay flexible about how you get there, and be willing to navigate some messiness along the way.