I sometimes wonder what it is about planning that makes it so difficult. Perhaps it is the variables involved … and sure enough when I looked up the etymology of variable then the word fickle reared its head. Perhaps we don’t really believe in planning because we know the variables are fickle … like the weather …changeable.
When we are planning with others the “what ifs” are soon multiplied. If I have 10 “what ifs” and am working with 10 others with “what ifs” that’s already 110 “what ifs”. I wonder how many “what ifs” are unmanageable?
Yet planning can begin to control the “what ifs” and if in seeking answers to the “what ifs” we engage in constructive conversations to find solutions or at least attempts at solutions, then the process of planning becomes highly informative and developmental.
There is also a certain arrogance about planning that some people find difficult. The author of the plan has to suggest work for others to do; timescales for others to keep; performance indicators by which others may be judged. Yet … if this is a cooperative process, others can begin to have genuine input and thus jointly own the plan.

I wonder whether the real struggle with planning is that it is absent from our amygdala!! Are we still better at instantaneous reactions to hunger and the need for survival as well as other basic needs? Is this more comfortable for us? An essential part of being human is the ability to be instantaneous. This is absolutely demonstrated every time someone jumps in a car and contributes to global warming. The instant satisfaction of instant travel with the amygdala in control avoiding accidents as we text and speak at the wheel with barely any consideration of the long term effects on the planet or even the driver in front of us!!

We need planning to truly work together, and we now have to work together in everything we do. Here in Bahir Dar the planning the Cheshire Foundation has done will make a genuine planned difference to the lives of many disabled people, Now that’s cooperation!!