There’s this dude called Jocko Willink. Might have heard of him, he’s pretty cool.
He used to do stuff, now he talks about stuff.
One of the things he talked about once was the idea that having only one answer is not the answer.
Repeat that back to yourself. And again.
What did you come up with in reference to that?
Did it make any damned sense?...
If it did, cool. You can stop reading and probably don’t need to read anything else I might ever write. Ever. There you go, free pass. I’ll even sign it for you. You know, if you ever meet me to have it signed, then meet me again to need the free pass to use on me if I ask if you’ve been reading. Which I don’t really ask, so its really just an autograph of a dude who’s not famous. At all.
Anyway…
If it didn’t make sense? Well, that’s a different story. And it has two sides to how you make sense of it.
There is this idea when it comes to a task and project that you want to have multiple ways of completing your objective. The idea being that if and when roadblocks come up, we need ways around them, other solutions to adjust with, punches to duck and roll with, new and better plans when the first one sucks.
Jocko is a former navy seal commander. As most can imagine, he’s seen some stuff, and dealt with a few characters and versions of people and scenarios that demand huge levels of versatility and dynamicy. I mean, he’s got the lives of people on both sides of a conflict in his hands when figuring out a battlefield solution and combat plan, so having a plan that turns out to be bad and a bit of a meat grinder AND CONTINUING TO RUN WITH IT is just asking for a war crimes tribunal.
That’s an extreme example of this idea, obviously. But they don’t just throw rookies into roles like that without a bit of training to work with. Navy Seals hierarchy doesn’t just hand out commander ranks to anyone who asks nicely (not that I’m aware of anyway, but stranger things have happened. Probably…).
So having different possibilities and options to achieve a goal means you aren’t so rigid that consequences aren’t more than they may have been anticipated to be, and give the ability to evaluate and re-evaluate events as they come up. Let s be honest, that’s just common sense. Why WOULDN’T you have different plans when its possibly coming down to someone’s life on the line. But as I say, that’s a fairly extreme example of the idea behind one answer is not the answer.
Game plan used by your quidditch team against a better ranked side. Getting that hot dude at the gyms attention when he has bench that day (usually Monday…). Stopping your friend from sad dialling his ex, again, knowing he needs his phone on him to take a call from work.
You know, stuff that needs more solutions that most problems demand.
Have a back up plan. Have a contingency plan. Have a plan to enact the backup plan. Have an exit strategy to regroup and find a better plan to build that contingency plan into.
Is this annoying yet?... Good. Ask someone who overthinks a bit much or has anxiety how much fun it is to have TOO many plans. Buts that’s not the point.
Most goals aren’t as solid and set in stone as we wish they were. WE aren’t as set in stone as that, either. Hopes and dreams can change. We evolve. We shift our focus, we prioritise different things, so having only one answer to questions like “how do I make money?” or “how do I use my time wisely?” will need different solutions as your aim shifts.
Cool. Sound fair? Makes sense? Just nod along, Bianca. I’ll talk to you after, okay?
But, when is having just one plan a good idea?
Is there a time?
What does having a plan mean really? Are there different kinds of plans that need different mentalities?
When it’s a ride or die, “my whole life is literally meaningless if I don’t do this and I’d rather be dead that anything but THAT THING THERE” kind of goal. One of those things that is so central to your core of existence that literally nothing else matters. Yeah, you’ll probably want only one plan then. But is there only one way to get there, though? If there is only one way, well I guess this is you then.
But this is where it gets tricky. When is it worth investing every shred of time, effort and intention into one specific pathway in a particular direction? And when is it time to realise that there has to be a better way to getting where you want to be than bashing your head against that brick wall with the flashing neon sign that says “self worth through here” and hoping that the lump on your forehead you’ve acquired goes down faster than you can grow it by bashing your head against said brick wall?…
Well, that depends on you. Are you capable and disciplined enough with committing to a destination and having multiple ways to it, but only investing in one at a time so you don’t end up too diversified in your effort so that doing 4 things at once takes longer than if you just did the first version properly?
Or are you so unswervingly focused on one way that you literally cannot see the forest for the trees as said trees and life passes you by?
Self awareness of which one you are means you can plan according to what you know you can do and will do well, but maybe also plan so as to not do what you know you do dumbly…
Plan a well planned plan to mitigate the part of the usual kinds of plan you plan that hurts the whole plan but sticking too closely, or not closely enough, to the plan.
See? Clear as mud.
I wrote last week about the use of language, and the different meanings that words have to different people and the not so great outcomes that can have from being a little bit off from the person next to you on what stuff means.
Is the clear as mud sentence decipherable to you? Or am I just spouting ridiculousness again?
What does plan mean to you? What does answer mean to you? What does goal mean to you?
What word do you use that mean the purpose of your life?
What word do you use that means the method by which you use to fulfill your purpose?
One answer is not the answer. But it depends on the question, the meaning of the words in the questions, and the person asking and answering the question.
Any questions?...
Yeah yeah. I’ll shut up now.
But, I’ll leave with this: the idea that planning to accommodate for the things you know aren’t strengths for you, and planning to capitalise on the things that you know are, is just plain smart.
Can you do it? Will you do it?
Ben kind, be smart, be your best you. No bar fights.
“At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want” Lao Tzu
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