I’m A Planner

I am a planning type of person. I’m not sure when it started. Certainly I wasn’t that way as a teenager. I was pretty typical and living for the moment. But I was always frugal which came about because we had very little money growing up. Perhaps the act of saving money caused me to realize that planning ahead was very beneficial.

I studied engineering in college because I saw that it would lead to a stable and successful career. And it did.

Around age 30 I got exposed to Steven Covey and “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. It was perhaps the most influential book that I’ve ever read. Weekly planning with a focus on balance between all of your life roles was stressed. I would set goals nearly every week for how to accomplish the most in my roles as father, spouse, friend, sibling, son and employee. Naturally, much was spent on the last one since that is where I would be for most of the day. But each week I would ask myself “What is the most important thing I should do this week to be effective in each of these roles?” Then I would schedule them the best that I could. I was almost never perfect but this approach proved to be very beneficial. I carried this practice for about 20 years or so. Then things became less formal but still followed the basic practice. I think this stopped when my wife got very sick and my focus became more narrow.

But the practice of planning ahead continues. It just seems to be the way I am wired.

• I established a will in my 30’s and it is up to date
• I have an advance health care directive
• Powers of attorney for my wife and I
• Beneficiaries for all financial assets (reminds me that I need to adjust the car title to “transfer upon death”)
• My Vermont retirement home was planned decades ago
• Prior to Covid we planned several trips a year. This will resume when things clear up.

Perhaps there is a downside to this. I am less spontaneous and require time to consider most decisions.

I don’t like to be rushed into anything. I think very carefully about major purchases.

Lately I have been thinking about the property jointly owned by my 8 siblings and me. I just drafted a letter that I am considering sending to all of them. But in my typical planning (overanalyzing?) fashion I will post it as a follow up diary entry while I think more about it.

Namaste