Do you have the wrong plans? Or is planning itself the thing that’s wrong?
Words | Hannah
My life is currently full of the wrong sort of plans. In any given day in any week in the year ahead, I could give you a pretty good idea of what I will be doing – probably with significantly greater accuracy than a courier delivery slot. I know when I will have my children, when they’ll be staying at their dad’s, when they’ve got a concert to perform at, when we’ll be extra busy sending an issue of Singletrack to the printer, when the major trade shows of the year will be filling the working day and website with product launches, and when my car will probably fail its MOT.
These are all unavoidable and necessary – although some of them are enjoyable. But they’re not plans, in the sense of something plotted and devised, considered and revised. Plans that start as an idea, and are put together with friends over dinner. Ideas that grow from a casual mention into a date in the diary complete with a few extra branches and leaves that weren’t part of the original idea but give the plan more body, more shape, more reasons to anticipate their fruition.
These are the kinds of plans I need. Things that can happen, probably will happen, but don’t actually have to. Events of choice. Marks on the calendar to count down to with growing excitement, perhaps a little trepidation, but definitely anticipation. But let’s be clear, I’m talking about plans not goals.
Plans can be adjusted – they’re dynamic evolving things that can still be successful, even if they don’t end up quite how you imagined. Like last year’s 40th birthday trip to the desert where my shorts stayed firmly in my suitcase as Arizona’s cacti groaned under six inches of snow. Goals, however, are achieved, or failed. Call me superstitious, or just weak-willed, but I’m not very good at setting goals because there’s just too much scope for disappointment. I’d rather plan to get round a tough event than set myself the goal of doing it in a certain time. If life throws a spanner in the works I can juggle my plans, but goals need a whole remedial programme to get back on track.
Maybe you’re reading this and thinking I should stop giving myself get-outs and start focusing. Maybe you’re right, and maybe next year, or another year, I’ll be ready to set goals. Right now, I just want an injection of balance, fun and happy anticipation into my highly scheduled life. I’m going to plan to go away, sleep in my car and ride some fun trails. I’m going to plan to see some people I don’t see enough of. I’m going to look for opportunities to try new things. No goals, no targets, no measurable results with potential degrees of failure.
We’re all busy, with stuff to do, obligations to meet, or targets to achieve. If you’re one of those people who thrives on achievement, on checking off that training plan all the way through perfect tapering and out the other side to podium glory, or target weight, or bagged Munro, then I’m not here to detract from the satisfaction that gives you. But for those of us for whom there is no competitive red mist, or drive to succeed – just the bilious churn of nerves, the cold sweat of imposter syndrome, or the deflation of a Did Not Start – I’m here to say there’s another way. We can ride for the sake of it. Ride for play – purposeless other than for pleasure, curiosity, or the experience of just being. As children we play games without keeping score – playground tag for the joy of running around and chasing, skipping ropes for the rhythm of stepping in time, or rolling down the hill for the sensation of tumbling under gravity.
Riding bikes can bring us all these sensations, just for the fun of it. We don’t have to log it, count it, measure it, or have a reason why. But if we’re not careful, all that other grown-up planned schedule stuff can get in the way. So we badge our playtime as goals, lock them into the calendar, and work towards them – eliminating the purposeless freedom that comes from real play and fun. No one ‘works towards’ their birthday party, or their holidays. They anticipate, savour, or look forward to them. I’m going to aim to make sure I do just enough planning to allow space in the calendar for fun things to happen. I’m going to eye them up with excitement, and I’m going to take them as they come. Maybe I’ll see you out there, in the playground.
