Don't Make Plans

There’s an old maxim that says, "If you want to make God laugh, make a plan." Well, I’ve made God laugh a lot in my lifetime. I’m about to make God laugh one final time—and it will be one big belly laugh—because I have a new plan. My plan is to stop making plans. I’m going to set intentions instead.

Plans hold me hostage. They insist on being on the front burner of my life, require being completed at a certain time and often make me feel like a failure when I don’t measure up to their standards. Plans tie me to outcome and make me miss the rich income that the rest of my life holds for me.

Intentions are more flexible. They’re happy to reside on the back burner of my life. They don’t haunt or nag me when I take time for lunch with a good friend, rather than tending to them. They trust that I’ll take care of them, without imposing a strict deadline on me.

So I’m done serving tyrannical plans with their unreasonable clauses and conditions. I intend to go forward lovingly embracing my intentions that tell me, “Go ahead. Have fun. I’ll be waiting here for you when you come back.”