How do you do something?

It seems that everywhere you look someone or something is exhorting you to just do something. Whether you should be innovating, leading, motivating, thinking, there is an advertisement or two that will greet you when you turn on the TV or the computer. (The the IBM stop talking start doing type of commercial)  I struggle to believe that there is a substitution for a well thought out plan that is flexible enough to be executed despite problems that may arise.

If we spend all of our time doing things we will spend a considerable amount of time redoing things later. In today’s society that is focused on “me” and instant gratification there is a tendency to avoid the mundane. The mundane often involves planning, critical thinking, and research. The easy way out is to simply rush into a project. Careful planning will take into account the need to move quickly, research as the project evolves, or even wait for a more appropriate time. There is a tendency to look at planning as a first step, nothing more. The best plans evolve with a project. They are not abandoned as the project moves forward.

Most teachers admonish students to think things through. You hear mantras such as, “Anything worth doing in a rush must be worth doing twice.” There is a time for instant reaction, gut instincts, and the like, however, I believe that time is much more rare than the time that calls for a careful study of the problem at hand.

As I sit here typing I am taking a fresh look at several of the projects I am involved in, both at work and at home, and I am wondering how well I am following my own advice. I know there are projects I am more interested in seeing done than studied.  As much as this post looks at the way society perceives, or wants us to perceive the world, it is a trip down memory lane to the teachers and coworkers who have tried to keep things in focus.