For as far back as I can remember, adults in my life have constantly warned me about having a back up plan. In fact, just a few hours ago, while discussing my college major with my Grandfather, he reminded me not to forget about a back up plan (in case my current plan fell through, of course). Although I do recognize that my Grandfather is surely speaking from experience, I can’t help but question the need for any sort of plan what-so-ever!
I recall the summer into my freshman year of high school, prior to my first year of starting AVID. The incoming ninth graders were required to participate in the AVID summer bridge program in which we learned how to properly take Cornell-style notes, participate in tutorials, keep an AVID binder, etc. Although I don’t remember much from that summer school course four years ago, I do remember a particular conversation with a member of our AVID team.
Our class was presenting the “personal crests” we had just finished making, which included four things: what we value most in life, a person who inspires us, what we want to be when we “grow up,” and finally, where we want to go to college. I could easily fill out three of the four sections, yet I drew a giant question mark under the final question. I honestly didn’t know a thing about college, let alone where I wanted to go in four years time!
When it came my turn to present, I explained that I truly had no idea how to answer the last question of our worksheet when I didn’t even know what I’d be wearing to school tomorrow. At the age of 14, how could I possibly begin to formulate an idea about what I wanted to do for the rest of my life!?
After my presentation, my teacher stopped me for a moment and, in front of the entire class, he explained to me that I had an incredibly immature outlook on my future and that I really needed to figure out where I wanted to go or I wouldn’t end up going anywhere. I shrugged and sat back down. At the time, I really didn’t think much of his comment, but looking back, I now realize how harsh it was and how very relevant it is to the topic of this post.
From the very first day of our lives, we are perfectly programmed to plan. Whether it’s our parents planning our academic future by enrolling us in a selective day care or seeking a guidance counselor to help determine a strategy to get into our dream school, we (or the people around us) are constantly planning, re-planning, and finalizing our plans for our future.
Take a good look back on a specific instance in your life in where you planned something: a vacation, your classes for school, etc. If you think about it, you didn’t really follow through on those plans, did you? Meetings always run away from the intended topic, classes become full before you can register for them, and there’s just never enough time in the day to fit in all you want to do during your vacation! I truly think the key to success in life is not to plan every move you will ever make.
Sure, I recognize that there are some things in life that need planning (such as conferences, large events, lesson plans), but even then, the key is not to over plan! Yes, I too am guilty of over planning. However, I can easily say that I attribute far more of my personal triumphs to simply going with the flow.
I look at where I am now and realize that, if all had gone according to my plans, I wouldn’t be at a school that I adore and I wouldn’t be studying business in the effort to start a nonprofit organization. I didn’t formulate a plan that would surely gain me acceptance in my college of choice (in fact, I swore up and down that I’d never go to a school in California, less it be Stanford). Even then, I entered Berkeley as a pre-med student wanting to be a pediatric neurosurgeon. Looking at my life at this very moment, everything is completely different from anything I could have imagined it’d be this time last year.
Society has programmed us to plan every minute detail of our futures. Yet somehow, I’ve stumbled upon all of my true passions and successes by following my heart and never taking myself (or my goals) too seriously. The only direction I have ever truly planned to go is forward.
Perhaps society is wrong (again). Albeit, due to many recent, tragic, and saddening global events, this wouldn’t be much of a shocker, right? 
