An acquaintance of mine whom I’ve known for over 10 years and I have two very different ways of looking at the world.
We may speak the same language but that’s where the similarities end.
The biggest difference I see between the two of us is that I’m a planner and he’s a doer.
For him, it’s all go, go, go and he’ll figure things out as he goes.
I prefer to sit down and think.
In life, you need both parts. Time to think, and time to act.
But acting too soon can be costly, while merely thinking won’t get you anywhere.
I’ve found that the more time spent on planning actually saves you time later on.
If you decided to build a house the first thing you would need is a blueprint, and the more detailed the better.
Once you have the blueprint you’ll know just what material you’ll need, how much you’ll need to spend on it and what areas to pay particular attention to.
It may seem like you’re spending time sitting around doing nothing but you’re actually doing the most difficult part of the job – using your brain.
Today in the first world nations of the world 70% of the work done is actually knowledge work (ie. consulting) and 30% is physical.
We have learned how to use our minds to be more effective and outsourced the labor part.
The doing is easy once you have the plan in place.
Henry Ford once said, “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.”
And I’ve found that it’s very true.
Don’t let the doers of life convince you to get started before you’re ready.
Take your time and set things up so that you can avoid as many pitfalls as possible.
And sometimes through planning you’ll find out things aren’t worth starting to begin with.
Planners and doers have trouble seeing eye to eye but in the end it’s the combination of them both that helps make an idea a reality.
Adrian Shepherd
Great point! Do you think it’s harder for a doer to transition into a planner or a planner to transition into a doer? I’m a doer for sure and I’m trying to transition into being a planner. My advice for this is to hire only planners because they will generally not ‘do’ without a plan so it slowly conditions planning into the doing. Doers who hire doers are bound for disaster. What do you think?
In my experience the doer has more trouble becoming a doer because they can’t handle sitting still. They feel antsy and want to get on with things. Hiring planners sounds like a good idea but some doers have trouble taking direction from others even when shown that their way works. Doers hiring doers is a recipe for disaster.
I personally think that whether a doer wants to become a thinker or visaversa the key is ACCEPTING that a change is needed. Then to start small and do things that are counterintuitive to their make-up. It doesn’t happen over night but the simple idea that a change is needed repeated day after day will eventually take root.
Adrian…
thanks for the question Scott…keep them coming