Ten-step plan. Zero steps taken. If your to-do list has its own to-do list, you might have planxiety, the most productive-looking form of planning as procrastination.
thatBB dictionary · no. 2
planxiety
(noun) · /plan·zy·uh·tee/
The art of planning so hard you never actually start.
Why does planning feel like progress?
Planning gives you the reward of progress without the risk of doing. Every new step, color code and app feels productive, and none of it can fail, because none of it has touched the real world yet. Starting is where things can go wrong, so your brain keeps finding one more thing to prepare. The plan stops being a map and becomes a hiding spot.
What would a stoic do?
While we are postponing, life speeds by.
Seneca, Letters to Lucilius 1
The stoics didn’t hate plans; they hated waiting for perfect conditions. The plan will never be 100%. It doesn’t have to be. Step 1 at 70% beats step 30 on paper.
Try this: 3 steps to get unstuck
- Circle one step. The smallest one you could finish in 20 minutes.
- Set a 70% bar. Good enough to learn from, not good enough to frame.
- Do it before you touch the plan again. Then update the plan with what you actually learned.
Send this to your favorite over-planner. Do it to get it. meow meow, kev
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