8 Signs of Over-Planning (And How To Stop It?)

Last updated on May 12th, 2022 at 05:58 pm

While a plan keeps you focused on the goals, over-planning keeps you out of the process.

Keep in mind that investing (wasting) too much time in planning than in implementing is one of the major signs of over-planning. To overcome the habit of excessive planning and actually accomplish something, first, you need to know, whether you’re an over-planner or just hate working? 

 

How to know you’re obsessed with planning?

To keep you on track and stay focused on the end goal, A PLAN is a must.

Ultimately, the whole purpose of planning is to organize all required activities or things that are crucial in achieving the goals and following them in a sequential process to get the expected results. 

When you always find yourself stuck in the organizing process and never get anything done with your time, you can say that you are obsessed with planning. 

That’s not what a good plan is all about. 

Because rather than making some out of your time, you eventually waste your time worrying, plus in overanalyzing. 

And sometimes that keeps you from doing what needs to be done.

Further in this article, we are going to discuss common signs of overplanning as well as the best tips to overcome excessive planning disorder.

 

8 Signs You’re Over-planning Everything In Your Life

1. You are obsessed with a perfect plan.

No matter what task you are working on, you still want to have a perfect plan. 

A perfectionist never settles for anything less than perfect procedures, strategies, or plans. They believe that doing so will ultimately lead them to success. 

It seems you think too much, worry too much, and plan too much, but do very little.

Consequently, you are stuck in the same situation, waiting and worrying alone. Due to that, you are unable to make progress which is a sign of obsessive planning. 

2. You want to control every smallest detail.

In simple terms, you are a control freak who wants everything under control. 

This is definitely not possible, and you would end up causing yourself unnecessary frustration and strain.

You think you know everything and everything has to be perfect as per your beliefs. 

Taking notice of every tiny detail in projects or activities is a sign of over-planning as it prevents you from concentrating on the tasks or skills you are best at.

Check other: 9 Signs You’re Incompetent At Your Work

3. You are planning too much for everything.

Regardless of the size or urgency of the project, you need a plan first before anything. 

The habit of obsessive planning always prevents you from starting work in a short period as well as making any progress to it.

Sometimes it’s best just to start working without waiting for the perfect time. 

In the same way that you would want to be in full control of everything, simply having a plan for everything will not help you at all.

That further wastes your time, which you could spend actually doing something instead of planning and just planning.  

4. You find it difficult to adapt to the situation.

No matter how perfect you think your plan is, you can never predict the possibility or uncertainty with that perfection.

Generally, a plan is an outline detailing what needs to be done to achieve the end goal.

It doesn’t cover what could happen, and the situation might be different in the future.

As such, your plan needs to be flexible so that it can be modified as the situation requires. 

However, when you cannot adapt yourself to new challenges or situations, you most often feel lost, as if there are no options left for you.

Simply, because they’re not part of your plan. Which are signs that you are obsessed with planning.

Check other: 9 Warning Signs Of A Poor Management In Business

5. You hardly complete what you finally started.

If you’re spending too much time any plan, you’ll end up forgetting about the required work. 

Because you’ve been so busy fitting every piece into the right spot in your plan, you forgot to act accordingly.

After all, every plan requires time as well. 

It is here you get too involved in planning that prevents you from implementing. 

Does it always take you longer than others to complete tasks than others? Is it hard for you to accomplish any tasks that you started because you’re so busy in planning and organizing?

If so, then, these are signs of over-planning that hurt your productivity.  

6. You are thinking too much about the future.

When bigger dreams motivate us to follow hard work, they’re all great. 

You can have some dreams which inspire you, but they can also stress you. It depends on the individual’s perspective to view dreams and goals likewise. 

If you live in a fantasy world, it is difficult for you to relate to logic and what works in the present. 

As opposed to being inspired, you are always worried about your expectations and dreams, which makes you feel anxious and tense.

You become obsessed with planning under pressure because of these negative emotions due to overthinking and worrying about the future.

Check other: 13 Signs You’ve Lost Yourself in Life

7. You have only Plan-A and if that fails, you just Give Up.

Because you think that your plan is perfect, you fail to consider other possibilities.

That’s just the way you think. When you pay attention, you have the option to try again or follow the better approaches to the problem. 

Since you aren’t flexible with your plan, you do not see any possibilities.

Your only plan B and that is to: Give up.

Most of the time, when you leave the project or work just because it won’t work as per your plan or as you expected that is one of the signs that you are an over-planner, thinking that it was the only option. 

8. You are either a procrastinator, perfectionist, or lazy.

Your whole day is messy and unorganized with lots of activities. 

It is hard to stay focused on one thing or to accomplish even one thing. There are many things for you to focus on, and you want to master them all.

Unless that’s your style, then you’re more like a procrastinator who waits until the right moment to do something.

You have a plan to start something at the perfect time and the perfect date. Which never happens. 

While some lazy people stay busy planning to get themselves out of work. They use it as an excuse and an option to refuse to work.

These are the most common signs of excessive planning, which is not productive even looks busy to others. 

Check other: 9 Signs Of Being Empty & Dead Inside

 

How to Stop Over-planning and Start Doing Something?

Knowing that you are obsessed with planning, is the first step to making an impact in your life. 

Since you are most likely to work on solving a problem when you know what the problem is.

From the above-listed signs of overplanning, you might’ve figured out that you are wasting your time on the wrong things, and now finally it’s time to get things done. 

And so, here are some tips to overcome the habit of excessive planning. 

A. Identify what wastes your time.

Most likely, it’s your habit of organizing and planning too much.

You need to understand how much time you have wasted because of that. And how best you could use it, earlier? 

B. Prioritize your tasks and do one thing at a time.

Don’t overload yourself with too many activities. Multitasking only creates more pressure.

When you have to multitask, prioritize things and cross them off your list one by one. 

Check other: 13 Signs You Can’t Focus On Anything

C. Focus on implementing and completing the work.

Be sure that the time required for creating a plan does not exceed the time required for implementation.

Schedule time for planning and researching.

After that, get to work, without much worrying or overanalyzing anything.

D. Become flexible with your time.

Nothing has to fit perfectly with your plan.

The plan outlines what you think will work and what won’t. However, for some unpredictable situations, you must be adaptable.

The right approach is to stay adjustable to tasks, staying focused on the end goals. 

Check other: 23 Signs of An Ugly Person

E. Accept your limitations. Do what you’re good at.

Not any plan, nor are we perfect in ourselves. We must accept what we can do and what we cannot.

Focus on what you do well, and delegate the tasks that you cannot perform.

That will save your time and effort by avoiding overplanning and multitasking. 

F. Stop worrying. Stop over-analyzing. Start working.

A plan is just a draft that we prepare based on the present scenario in order to accomplish our goal in the future.

That doesn’t mean you have to keep worrying and think about the goal alone.

Don’t let those goals make you feel pressured, instead take them as a reason to keep working. 

Instead of wasting time worrying or thinking about the future, you should focus on how to make the most of the present. And, your future will be bright eventually.  

Check other: 12 Signs You Talk Too Much (And, What to do about it)

 

Remember: The goal of planning is to decide the roadmap to reach the destination. And it must not be perfect, it has to be flexible enough to keep you going towards your goal either way. However, when you are overplanning or overthinking everything, you find yourself at the starting point where you have been for a long time.