Because I was traveling last week, I had a long list of plans for this week, mostly involving writing. Sure, I need to maintain my workouts and other personal deliverables, but I had big, big plans.
Several things derailed my plans:
- My return flight to Boston arrived at 3:30 on Saturday morning, not 8 pm Friday night. (I finally crawled into bed at 6 am, because it took an hour for the luggage to appear.)
- Something in my office tripped the circuit breaker on Sunday. I ended up cobbling together an office in the kitchen.
- Then, we needed people to come fix the circuit breaker because it refused to return to normal. (I’ve never broken a circuit breaker before!)
My plans? Up in smoke. Poof!
That reminded me of the old Yiddish saying, “Man plans, God laughs.”
I did plan. I don’t know who’s laughing, but I’m not, not yet.
Here’s how I manage when life happens:
- See my reality. I can’t “make up” the time. That never works. So see where I am now.
- Reset. I don’t have a time machine, so I can’t “return” to my plans. Instead, I reset and replan.
- Create options for what to do, first, second, and third.
I’ve already done the first two: I had great plans, and they’re gone. I need to create different plans and I need some options.
How I Create Options to Replan
If you’ve read any of my project portfolio work, you’ll recognize these ideas. (See Manage Your Project Portfolio. Or start with One Pragmatic Tip: Reduce WIP (Work in Progress) Everywhere. (Or take a look at the portfolio posts on my other site.)
First, I ask the zeroth question: Is this work still valuable? Since I made my plans late last week, yes, all the work is still valuable. Things have not yet changed enough to reduce the value of the work.
Next, I decide how to rank. I tend to use Cost of Delay, where I assess what the harm will be from work I postpone, the work I won’t do for now. (See How Cycle Time and Cost of Delay Makes Product Development Decisions Easier (Day 2) for more information.)
Then, I use my calendar to create detailed plans for what I will do.
Since I’m behind, I’ll work in shorter timeboxes—10-15 minutes, not my normal 20 minutes—to maintain my pace. That also has the side effect of right-sizing the work I want to complete. Sometimes, my capacity eyes are much bigger than my writing capability. When I reduce my timeboxes, I can’t finish more, but I can finish something specific. (And I don’t look out the window when I’m stuck.)
I’m able to do this because I slept (a lot). And the electrician has been here and fixed the breaker. And my husband changed out an old power strip. (Who knew they died? I did not.)
When something makes your beautiful plans go poof, don’t try to “persevere” with the same plans. Instead, see your reality. Reset. Then create new plans and decide what not to do for now.