AC #192: Planning For DoomsdayAccidental Creative

The Accidental Creative

AC #192: Planning For Doomsday

By Todd Henry

We are brilliant at developing permanent solutions to temporary problems. And we waste a lot of productive organizational energy making contingency plans and preparing for the worst rather than aggressively pursuing our work. Do you waste time in your life and creating “planning for doomsday”? If so, how, and what are you going to do about it?

About Todd Henry

Todd is the founder of Accidental Creative, the author of The Accidental Creative: How To Be Brilliant at a Moment's Notice, and an in-demand speaker and consultant for creative teams. Connect with him on Twitter or Facebook.

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Comments

http://facebook.com/thewakingpoint Matt

So what can we do to prevent and avoid this? I know it’s not inevitable because it doesn’t ALWAYS happen for EVERYTHING? Thoughts?

http://www.accidentalcreative.com/members/toddhenry/ Todd Henry

Seems like the best way to deal with it is to regularly ask the question “are there any activities or systems in my life that are a permanent or perpetual/habitual reaction to a one-time experience?”

http://www.paulcline.com Paul Cline

Todd, This reminds me of my brother deploying to Afghanistan and the advise given by C. S. Lewis. You can only die once. Don’t spend all your time alive preparing to die a thousand times day.

http://www.accidentalcreative.com/members/toddhenry/ Todd Henry

That’s good advice, Paul. Love the quote and wish I’d spent more of my 20′s living that advice.

http://n/a sandy digman

mat 6:27 – who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
http://www.benigntech.com.au Frances

From Wikipedia:

The Indian mystic and sage Meher Baba (1894–1969) often used the expression “Don’t worry, be happy” when cabling his followers in the West.[1] However, Meher Baba communicated variations of the sentiment; fuller versions of the quote—such as, “Do your best. Then, don’t worry; be happy in My love. I will help you”[2] — also incorporate responsibility (“do your best…”) alongside the detachment (“don’t worry…”), as well as the master/disciple spiritual relationship (“I will help you”). In the 1960s, the truncated version of this expression by Baba was printed up on inspiration cards and posters of the era. In 1988, McFerrin noticed a similar poster in the apartment of the jazz band Tuck & Patti in San Francisco. Inspired by the expression’s charm and simplicity, McFerrin wrote the now famous song, which was included in the soundtrack of the movie Cocktail, and became a hit single the next year. In an interview by Bruce Fessier for USA Weekend Magazine in 1988 McFerrin said, “Whenever you see a poster of Meher Baba, it usually says ‘Don’t worry, be happy,’ which is a pretty neat philosophy in four words, I think.
John Douglas Porter

I’ve seen this concept go by other names in other fields. “The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good” and “Worse Is Better” (vs. “Do The Right Thing”). It’s also essentially the same as the 80/20 Rule (or the 90/10 Rule), and The Point of Diminishing Returns. Ok, maybe not all exactly the same, but very closely related. :-)

http://www.accidentalcreative.com/members/toddhenry/ Todd Henry

Very true, John. I’m mostly interested in how these assumptions and infrastructures limit our focus and our ability to do our best work. It’s less about striving for perfection and more about how our attempt to avoid failure limits the options at our disposal when we are trying to create new things. We can spend a lot of time trying NOT to do something, or NOT to be something rather than striving for what we DO want to do.