Recalculating: Planning, Pivoting, and Keeping Your Calm

One of my favorite articles from Christmas Past, as in 15 years ago, was titled “GPS For The Holiday Season”, and a few weeks later I shared “Re-Calculate Revisited”.

So, here is 3.0, I guess!

The idea for today’s article and podcast episode came to me while I drove home in a snowstorm.

That wasn’t exactly what I had planned for my Saturday after Thanksgiving, that's for certain. To be honest, if you’re here in the Midwest with me and you know what a mess that was, it’s likely not what you had planned, either.

For example, I was hanging my outdoor Christmas lights on my front shrubs at 7 am that morning before the snow got too heavy, and thank goodness, too, because as you’re hearing this, that snow and all the other snow since then has likely not melted yet! There were high school championship games to be rescheduled (at recording time, Brother Rice High School is state champs in their conference!), and in my house we were watching the weather and talking about how to get my college student back to campus the next day… or not.

And mostly it just made me remember one of my favorite blog articles that I wrote 15 years ago, one of my favorites and also one of my most popular at the time about Recalculating.  Because, I mean, honestly, we have to be ready to be flexible all the time.

So, Recalculating. In that 15 years ago article, the word I used was “Recalculating”. Way back then, that was the word the GPS voice would use when we would change our planned route from point A to point B. Now when I don’t follow directions and do what the Maps app tells me to do, I just get a little spinning icon and the word “re-routing” on my I phone screen.  

But I still use the idea and sometimes the word “Recalculating” every day!

And I use it even more this time of year.

Thankfully, “re-routing” or “recalculating” means there are still more solutions, we just have to pick the best one.  We just need to be open. Open to recalculating, to rerouting. We know that things don’t always go as planned, um, and that we need to be ready to shift as necessary. 

Of course we plan. The only way that rerouting actually works, I find, is if we actually have a route to begin with. We have to have a plan before we can adjust the plan. And once we have the plan, we also need to be ready to change the plan. We have to be ready to be flexible. And that requires that we get better at planning.  I know, I talk about a lot about planning because I am a fan, but also because planning is important.

If you want to get anything done in a linear, user-friendly way, we need to plan. The planning process takes into account our current status, our desired outcome, the steps to get us from current to desired outcome, and the resources and also limitations we have to work with between here and there.

Did you know?  Over 90% of flight plans filed with the FAA are not completed as filed.  Does that mean that we don’t file flight plans?  No, of course not, that would be chaos. Instead, it means that trained aviation professionals like pilots file their flight plans to get from here to there, like from Chicago to Boston, and then as the flight transpires, they make adjustments also based on their planning and experience, tail winds, weather, etc.

Rerouting or recalculating actually requires that we've done the hard work of planning first. I will keep using driving as a metaphor for recalculating, but you and I both know, there are many instances of recalculating.

• I can leave early to get where I am going, in case there is traffic. 

• I can call ahead and communicate with the people involved, so they know the plan. 

• I can be aware of more than one way to get from point A to point B.

• I can have a realistic time estimate of how long the drive should take in a perfect world, and also what I can feasibly expect as margins for error.

• I can take emergency supplies with me for winter driving, like water and snacks and a blanket, for just in case.

And taking the metaphorical leap here, I can do all of those things in life and not just in driving, right? 

Allow more time for my commute, sure, but also for a project to get completed or for someone to respond to my text or email.

Clear and consistent communication with others is always good advice, and sets us up to continue that practice if something changes with an original plan.

Having multiple ways to solve common problems, like a plan B for transportation, or staff coverage, or a Christmas gift.

I can be aware of how long common tasks are supposed to take, and be ready to adjust as necessary.  

All of these can be examples of recalculating, not just on the road!

We have to route before we can reroute. We have to plan before we can adjust the plan. We have to calculate before we recalculate. Right? So we have to do that initial work before we can shift. And we. We have to expect that we're gonna have to shift. Today. You know, this moment, on our way home, who knows? But we're gonna have to do it. And so it behooves us to, like I said, do the planning first so we can get ready to adjust the planning when we need to. 

In that long ago article, I finished with this message, and I think it still holds true 15 years later:

“Take a breath, clean up the mess, sing the Christmas carol, welcome the friend, care for the stranger, order the gift, and get it all done.  And when things don’t go as planned, and assuredly, sometimes they won’t, I’ll try not to get distracted or frustrated.  I will just… Re-Calculate.”