MAP VS. PLAN

February 17th, 2021

You can’t ruin something that never had a plan.  So many get paralyzed before even starting because of a neurotic requirement to try and somehow plan out every little move before taking the first.  The irony, of course is that when those first few steps are finally taken, the rest of the plan often has to get thrown out due to new information that arises because of those first few steps.

Compare the plan to the map.  Explorers could not really plan their expeditions into unknown territory precisely because there is never a map of that unknown territory.  In this regard, the map is the diametrical opposite of the plan.  Whereas the plan is something we try to project onto the future, a map is drawn up after the fact.

It’s perhaps a missed opportunity of modern life that we have the whole world mapped out, and therefore it seems as though we can plan our way forward to any real location with the precision and ease that comes with a tool like google maps.

There is, however, one area that is still shrouded in unknown territory, and that’s the future.  Perhaps we might take a cue from the old explorers and realize that a plan isn’t necessary, only an ability to navigate as we go, and perhaps a map of the way so far so we might find our way back.