Make Your Plan Flexible

pencil in your plans
life can change in a moment
altering your path

Some say that the way you start the year is the way you live your year.

Go in with a firm plan. Execute diligently to create what you want. If you don’t, you’ll be behind.

In this blog, back in 2015, I bought into those sentiments with great optimism at the end of a magical New Year’s Day:

Here’s what I wrote then:

If how you spend New Year’s Day is a sign of what is to come in the rest of the year, then 2015 will be a year of blessings for me and those around me. It will be a year of love and grace. A year of divine syncronicity. A year of feeling and emotion and things that I cannot even articulate in this moment.

I was coming off a great year in my business: my highest commissions in my real estate business, my first paid speaking gig, and a lucrative side business helping real estate agents create systems to work more effectively away from the office.

I had a clear vision for how I wanted to grow each part of my business and what that looked like.

I returned from vacation excited to launch into the new year.

Nine days later, I woke up in the middle of the night on the floor of my apartment. I had gotten up to turn off the heat, fainted and fallen to the ground, hitting my head on a dresser on the way down.

By a miracle, I was alive.

But everything would change.

Although a trip to the ER the next day revealed no inflammation or visible issues, I would eventually be diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

From the outside I looked fine. I was able to go to the gym for light workouts. I had no visible injuries.

But I was anything but fine.

I was told to stay off screens. Being in crowded public places was taxing on my energy. Being around more than a few people at a time was too much for my brain.

I became withdrawn and isolated as I recovered. I fell into a depression.

And everything about my plans changed. In the depths of my “recovery” I formulated a new plan. My life took a new path.

I can’t say that the new path was better. But I also don’t know that it’s been worse. It’s impossible to judge because we can’t travel in two directions at once.

I changed the plan because life changed. My needs changed. My healing journey has given me experiences I might not have had otherwise.

There’s a saying, “man plans and God laughs.”

Does that mean we shouldn’t make plans? Not at all. Vision is important. Dreams are important. Plans are helpful to support our vision and dreams.

And… we must also recognize that life can change in a moment. Sometimes we are forced to detour, or to change the destination entirely.

Make a plan, and be willing to let it go. Be flexible and adaptable in response to the shifting landscape.

Maybe you’ll end up somewhere you never expected.