Freedom Friday: Unlearning Planning and Embracing the Power of Pivot

Hello everybody and welcome once again to the unlearned podcast. I am your host for that big L aka R a, and this is Freedom Friday, which is when me or me and one of my friends comes and shares with you something we've unlearned this week and how it has made us just a little bit more free. So I don't know about y'all, but I love a good plan. Like plans make me feel safe and prepared and free and sometimes even excited because I know what's coming next. Plans, you know, lead to realizing vision for me sometimes, and like I love to see things in my head or in other people's head come to life. Like I love a good plan, but something I've been reminded of lately and am constantly having to unlearn about plans is that you can't account for what you don't know. There will always be things you can't plan for, and I know that sounds like duh, but to us planners sometimes it just doesn't feel like that. It feels like I can pretty much figure out any scenario. Like I'm, I can definitely make that happen. And even if you can figure out a scenario on paper, in the real world you you cannot plan for the unknown. And so a good planner understands that and even accepts it and embraces it. But a great planner doesn't just accept that they don't know certain things or can't control the unknown. They master the art of the pivot. They master the art of the pivot. They master the art of the pivot. They know how to change direction quickly and they practice it. Because if you know that plans change and if you know you can't control the unknown, if you know you can't plan for everything because you don't know everything, we have to do more than just accept that. We need to get good at shifting direction quickly. So if you're a planner who refuses to pivot or learn how to pivot well, then vision will only live in your head. It won't ever be realized to the degree it could be in real life. Like, the ability to change direction quickly without complaining or panicking separates good planners from great planners and it separates a complacent person from a content person and it's the difference between feeling free and actually being free. So I married a man who is definitely not a planner Like. His idea of a good plan is just that, like an idea, and it's probably going to shift and change a few times within 24 hours. And this is something I've learned to embrace in the years that we've been together. It's been hard sometimes because of the way I like to plan, but what I have appreciated about that is the beauty and his ability to pivot when plans do not go as planned, because that's always going to happen, like his get up and get it done. Mentality has carried us in a lot of the unexpected right, a lot of seasons of the unexpected. So, you know, it's important that we master the pivot and it's important that we respect people that do, because I think another thing, like a lot of us, I definitely do, and y'all going to judge me for saying this, but sometimes I judge people who don't plan. I'm like you know it's your, it's it's it's it's irresponsible or it is not. You know it's not mature. Well, you got to have a plan, you got to think through things, all this stuff, and I forget that there is beauty and necessity and being that flexible and not having everything on paper and not having an answer for everything, because the unknown will happen. You will have to pivot. And that skill for people that naturally have that skill, it is vital that they be in your world and the planners world, otherwise we would go crazy, right? So we got to master the art of the pivot and, like, I hear about this in business a lot, they talk about it and business and leadership, but we have to just do it in regular daily life, because change doesn't make a distinction between business and personal life and it doesn't take into account the season you're in. It comes when it comes and how it comes and there's nothing you can do about it. So, like, mastering the art of the pivot in just regular daily life is necessary to growth and experience and freedom. So there's two things that I would suggest to increase your skill in pivoting as we're unlearning this. I'm a planner hierarchy in life we have to unlearn the role of a planner being superior to the role of the pivoter. I don't even know if pivoter is a word, but y'all know what I mean. Just because you play doesn't mean you're superior, and I think we have to unlearn that. And so we have to learn how to pivot, we have to get good at it. And there's a couple of things I would suggest in being able to increase the skill. First, just real, practically, as you're planning, try to purposefully leave holes in your plan and force yourself to figure some things out in the moment, so that, especially with small things that aren't super consequential, so that when big things come, you're not thrown off and you've practiced it on a regular basis in a small way. The second thing is you got to partner with spontaneous people. When you're planning things whether it's a friend, a coworker, a spouse, a sibling, you know for a birthday party or a trip or a meeting or whatever like partner with somebody who naturally pivots so that you can begin to build that muscle and reduce stress and anxiety and panic when things don't go as planned. You want to build good relationships with people who can help you in those moments. So leave a hole or two in your plans so that it forces you to have to think on your feet, and then partner with people who are better at being spontaneous than you are, and I think that'll help. And so, anyway, that's some of the stuff I'm learning. I've had a lot of unexpected in the last several months, so I've really this has been like top of mind for me personally and I just I'm constantly having to remember the art of the pivot. Like, learn how to pivot and don't stop being surprised when you have to. Like stop being surprised when a pivot becomes necessary because that's literally just a part of life. So I'm unlearning that. I hope you're unlearning that. So that's Freedom Friday. We will see y'all next week. We are actually heading into a brand new series that's going to drop here in a few weeks, but until then, keep tuned in to Freedom Fridays and keep your ears to the ground for what that series is going to be. And also, if y'all want to hear certain things like let me know. If you follow us on Instagram or Facebook, shoot me a DM and say, hey, I think this would be a really good topic to talk about, unlearning, and we'll put it into the rotation. So, once again, thank you for listening and let's keep unlearning together so we can keep living more free Peace. Thank you once again for listening to the Unlearned Podcast. We would love to hear your comments and your feedback about the episode. Feel free to follow us on Facebook and Instagram and to let us know what you think. We're looking forward to the next time when we are able to unlearn together to move forward towards freedom. See you then.