Dreams and Plans

From Seth Godin:

"Dreams are fine. And dreams involve contradictions. We want this AND that, but both can’t happen. That’s what keeps them from being plans.

Plans embrace boundaries and reality, they don’t ignore them. Plans thrive on scarcity and constraints. Plans are open for inspection, and a successful planner looks forward to altering the plans to make them more likely to become real."

Effectively communicating 'the map is not the territory' alongside 'this still matters and can be impactful' is as much of an art as it is science. Plans are insignificant without interpretation and ongoing alterations.

In order to convert dreams into plans, one must first acknowledge that there's actually a problem worth solving. Sometimes an acute problem presents itself, but most often, problems are chronic, like living above one's means suddenly having consequences when there's not enough saved for retirement at 60. Or consuming a poor diet for decades suddenly showing up in the form of type 2 diabetes. 

These should be problems worth solving, and there are clear solutions. We simply have to recognize that they are worthwhile to deal with, despite the time, cost and inconvenience of doing so. Otherwise, they're only dreams.