What’s Motivating for You? A Plan or a Vision?
There is no "right" way
I’m a planner. I love having a plan, making a plan, writing in a planner. I was the kid who loved fresh notebooks and new pens at the start of a school year. Just recently, I started marking out my 2024 calendar with plans and it brought me great satisfaction.
I know others for whom planning is not fun. They’d rather be spontaneous, fly by the seat of their pants, figure it out as they go along, or be inspired by moving towards a vision rather than weekly to-do lists.
And of course, none of us is all one way or the other. Sometimes we need to see the bigger picture; sometimes we need to know the steps that will take us there.
But I see a lot of advice out there for “how to get things done” or “how to meet your goals”, which does not account for the fact that the advisee might be motivated by different things than the advisor.1
If you tend to prefer spontaneity, making a plan might be useful, but it won’t necessarily be motivating.
If you tend to prefer planning, setting the vision may be helpful, but it won’t necessarily move you to action.
The Questions You Probably Ask
If you’ve never considered what motivates you, try to remember the types of questions you tend to ask when faced with a project or task or way of living.
If you find yourself asking “how” or “when” a lot, you might be motivated by planning.
How am I supposed to do this?
When is it going to happen?
How will you get it done?
When is the deadline?
If you find yourself asking “why” or “what” a lot, you might be motivated by envisioning.
Why is this important?
What am I doing with my life?
Why are you bothering to spend time on this?
What is the purpose of it?
Again, none of us tends all one way or the other, and it would be silly to try to put ourselves in a box about it. But sometimes we get stuck and we aren’t sure why. Figuring out if you need a vision or a plan can be a helpful way to get moving again.
If you aren’t sure what motivates you in general, or in a specific instance (which may vary), try offering yourself both options.
Set the Vision
Stop and think about the bigger picture of why you’re doing what you’re doing.
If it’s a project at work, consider why you’re there in the first place. Is your primary goal to provide for your family? Is the work itself fulfilling? Are you doing something boring but really helpful to others?
If it’s staying home with children, think about what you want your family to be like in 5, 10, 20 years. What kind of habits do you want to foster? What kind of relationships do you want to cultivate? What kind of environment do you want to design?
If it’s running your own business or another entrepreneurial activity, ask yourself if you know your “why”. Do you have a mission statement? Have you clarified your company’s values?
Give yourself some time to remember why you chose the thing (the ‘what’) you’re doing.
When you have a sense of the bigger picture, write it down or draw it out. Make it visual and put it somewhere you’ll see it often, so you’ll be inspired when things get difficult.
Make the Plan
Once you know your big-picture vision, it’s time to make a plan. Your vision gives you a sense of where you’re headed; your plan tells you how to get there.
If it’s a project at work, write down everything that needs to be done, and when the final deadline is. Then break things down into manageable (for you!) tasks and assign them to particular days or weeks.
If you’re staying home with children, choose a habit or virtue or relationship skill that you want to focus on for one month at a time. Decide on 2 or 3 actions you can take to foster it, and put them on a calendar or other prominent place in your home, to remind you to do the things that will help bring about the vision.
If it’s running your own business, use your mission statement to set “goalposts” for yourself throughout the year. Make quarterly plans with accompanying actions to help you reach those goal posts.
Get (Complementary) Help
Chances are, just reading through how you might set a vision or make a plan will give you a hint of what’s motivating for you. Did the idea of writing a mission statement make you want to roll your eyes or sharpen your pencil? Did the idea of calendaring tasks want to make you poke your eye out or grab the sticky notes?
In an ideal world, we’d all be equally enthused by every aspect of getting things done, but this world is far from an ideal.
When you find yourself stuck, try identifying what you need more of: a vision or a plan? And then - this is key! - try asking for help.
Somewhere along the way, many of us got the idea that it was morally superior to be independently motivated. To be really successful, we have to do everything ourselves, and if we can’t see a project from start to finish entirely on our own, we’re failures.
But God designed human persons to live and to thrive in community, so don’t be afraid to invite others into your projects and tasks and ways of living. Not everything needs to be “group work” from elementary school,2 but neither do you have to do this life solo. Asking for help is wisdom, not foolishness.
Do you have a friend who loves big-picture thinking? Invite her to help you design a vision board. Do you have a sibling who dreams in spreadsheets? Ask him to help you break down your overwhelming task list.
Embracing collaboration, especially in areas that we don’t find motivating, is a wise way to ensure we keep moving forward.
What about you? What do you find motivating? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
There is no morally best way to be motivated: in the Scriptures, God reveals visions of Himself and guidance about how to live - both are meant to move us towards Heaven.
Did you just shudder at those memories of doing all the work and getting a shared grade? Me too. That’s not what collaboration in adult life has to look like.