Minisode

Change the Plan

Pause and think, “What if we did this another way – or not at all?”

 

In this minisode, we are sharing a new Steal This Tip – a simple strategy that’s helping us be more fulfilled, mindful or happy in our daily lives.

Today’s tip is: Change the Plan. The topic is meta because we changed our own plan for the podcast this week!

We’ve taken some time off from making full episodes to prepare and create new content. Our original plan was to end our season break this week and release our first full episode of Season 2 called, How to Make Time for What Fuels You, to go along with the free tool of the same name that we created.

We loved this plan. We were committed to this plan. But… the plan wasn’t working. We were both feeling stressed about polishing and testing out the guide in time for the episode release.

So we took a step back and asked: What if we released one more minisode before getting back to full episodes? We’d be much less stressed, and the guide would be better because we didn’t rush it out.

It was such a relief to find a new plan we were both happy with! We tend to get laser-focused on a goal, losing sight of why we’re doing it or more effective ways of accomplishing it. And it’s even harder to change the plan when we feel like we’re letting other people down.

It helps to Practice the Pause, our tip from our last minisode, and think, “What if we did this another way – or not at all?” Those three words, “What if we…” open up a whole new range of possibilities than what you might have considered.

One analogy for this is to think like a chef and pivot. If what you’d planned to do isn’t working, what new plan can you make on the fly? What alternative options do you have?

One of Gill’s favorite books is An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler. It’s beautifully written and funny – part memoir, part cookbook, part life philosophy. All its chapters have titles like “How to Paint Without Brushes” and “How to Teach an Egg to Fly.” One is “How to Snatch Victory from the Jaws of Defeat.” It’s all about how to pivot and change the plan when your dish has gone awry, and Gill has started using this phase often for cooking and life.

Adler writes: “It is inevitable that at some time, something will go wrong, and when it does, there will be something you can do to make it right. You must first allow the possibility that something that happens unintentionally is not necessarily bad.”

We both share examples of how Change the Plan has helped us overcome obstacles – and tips you can use in your life.

Get In Touch

Tell us about a time when you changed your plan, even if you thought that wasn’t a possibility, and were happier for it.

Email us at podcast[at]semitogether.com or send us a voice memo. If you haven’t already, take a moment to leave us a review or share the podcast with a friend who’d enjoy it. And sign up for our e-newsletter to stay in touch.