Healthy Living by Willow Creek Springs
A podcast about practices to promote healthy lives featuring experts, businesses, and clients: we gather to share our stories about success, failure, exploration, and so much more. Our subscription episodes feature some personal and vulnerable, real-life stories that are sensitive to some of the general public.
Healthy Living by Willow Creek Springs
Are You Overthinking or Underplanning Your Way to Health?
Ever wonder why some people meticulously plan every detail of their lives while others thrive on spontaneity and last-minute decisions? This fascinating dichotomy shapes not just our personalities, but profoundly impacts our health, relationships, and ability to achieve our goals.
The structured planner enjoys numerous advantages—clarity of purpose, efficient goal-setting, better time management, and the confidence that comes from anticipating challenges. Their approach creates reliable frameworks for achieving health objectives and building productive teams. Yet this same structure can become a prison of perfectionism. Analysis paralysis, fear of failure, and rigid inflexibility often prevent planners from taking action or adapting when circumstances change. Many health journeys stall because someone is stuck researching the perfect approach rather than simply beginning.
Meanwhile, spontaneous individuals bring creativity, energy, and joy to life's experiences. Their flexibility allows them to seize unexpected opportunities, think innovatively, and form deeper connections through presence and adventure. The willingness to step outside comfort zones fosters tremendous personal growth. However, this carefree approach brings its own challenges—disorganization, impulsive decisions, inconsistency, and the stress of dealing with unforeseen consequences when things don't work out.
The healthiest approach lies not in choosing one style exclusively but in developing the wisdom to know when each serves you best. Creating flexible frameworks allows for necessary structure without sacrificing adaptability. Whether establishing exercise habits, building relationships, or pursuing health goals, the balanced individual can plan thoughtfully while remaining open to spontaneous opportunities that enrich the journey.
What's your natural tendency? Do you plan everything to perfection or prefer to wing it? Consider how integrating elements from both approaches might create a more balanced, fulfilling path to health and happiness. Share your experiences or questions about finding your optimal balance!
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Well, hello and welcome to the Healthy Living Podcast. I'm your host, joe Grumbine, and I'm happy to share some thoughts with you guys today. I am super grateful for everybody who supported this podcast and, as we continue to grow, I'm looking forward to not only sharing more and interesting topics, but more and interesting guests. If you're interested in participating as a guest, please reach out. You can generally leave a message through the show notes or my email is grumbinejoe at gmailcom, and you know you don't have to be an expert. You can come on and share your experience, products, anything that ties us to a healthier life mind, body, spirit and any combination of the above. And today I'm a little off topic in some ways, because usually I'm talking about something specific, specifically related to a particular health concept. This is a more general topic, but I think it's important. In going through life, you meet a lot of different people, and our social life, our relationships, are critical in our health and we've talked about that numerous times community and all of that, and I think it's important to focus some attention on those things, and this also relates to just accomplishing things, to setting tasks in motion all sorts of elements that can be applied to health. And so today I want to talk about the differences and maybe the strengths and weaknesses between the type of person who is a planner, super hyper-focused on planning everything to the T, and then the counterpoint to that, which is the spontaneous one, and I think that there are benefits to both sides. That can dramatically affect our growth and our health and our ability to learn, and it can affect mind, body and spirit if you really start looking at it, and I think a lot of the things that we talk about have to do with learning and accomplishing, goal setting and achieving things. I think that's where health ultimately comes in. So if you're lackluster and you're not trying to do good or better with your life, chances are you won't and you'll probably sit relatively stagnant. You'll probably find yourself in habits and ruts and maybe good ones, maybe not, but I think the not good ones tend to be a lot easier to fall into than the better ones. So first I want to talk about the hyper planner and the strengths and weaknesses that can come from that and, you know, maybe to look at yourself and see where do you fit into this. I know I am a somewhat planner and I like to think that there's a balance between the two. That would be the better way to be, but there's extremes on all sides and some people you know are far to one side of a spectrum. So let's look at some positives about you know being a planner, and maybe the first one would be you know, you have some clarity and direction.
Speaker 1:You think about things. You plan, meaning you actually think about what you want. I think that that's critical in a healthy life, because if you don't know what you want, how are you going to know if you get it? Happiness is highly connected to health, and happiness is a choice, I think, more than anything. But it has to do with being aware, being mindful, being in a place where you know where you fit, in a place that you create, but you also exist within. So clarity and direction, I think, are important because you have some sense of where you're going, you know where you are and maybe you even know how you're going to get there.
Speaker 1:And goal setting I think a planner definitely has an advantage. You know, if you say I'm here and I want to get there, that's my goal and you're thinking about it and you're a planner, well, you're going to go. Well, what can I do to get from here to there better, faster, more stable, and I think that your planning can really create a path to get to where you're going. And I think planning creates a structured approach, creates a structured approach. So, if you think about it, if you're a planner, you're thinking about the beginning, the middle and the end of your goal or your task or your idea, whatever it is you're working on. And the chances are, if you create a plan, it's going to have some kind of a structure to it. It's going to make sense. It's going to say, well, I'm going to start here, I'm going to build this foundational element and then I'm going to stand on top of that and then I'm going to be able to reach over to this other place or create this dynamic or this relationship or build this tool, whatever it is, but there's going to be a structure to it. So you can sort of number one, you can look ahead and plan your next moves better. I think that there's a huge advantage in that.
Speaker 1:I think that a lot of people just sort of fake their way through life and they just react, always reacting, and sometimes being proactive. I think, and many times being proactive far outweighs being reactive because you get to have more choices when you're being reactive. Well, you have more good choices anyways. When you're being reactive, you know there's generally a lot fewer options to get to where you want to go because you're reacting to a situation rather than saying, well, I want to get here, so I'm going to make the first move. So I think that's good. I think you really, when you're a planner, you improve your productivity.
Speaker 1:I think you generally consider time management. I think if you're not a planner, I think you inadvertently piss a lot of time away. I think we lose sight of what we're doing, where we spend our time. I think today, with these little square boxes, that everybody spends their time on scrolling and YouTubing and all the stuff that we do YouTubing and all the stuff that we do I mean, hopefully, listening to an interesting podcast is a good use of your time reading a book or writing a book or writing poetry or music or whatever it is you're doing. But I think when you're working from a plan, somehow you think about time more and again. Is that always better? I don't know. We're looking at this right now. I'm not necessarily going to come to conclusions, but just examine the situation. I think you waste less time and energy and efforts by having a plan, because a lot of times excuse me, if you don't have a plan, a lot of times you'll inadvertently say or do the same thing over again or you'll forget a thing that you needed to do and then you got to go back and undo a step. And if you're looking at your plan and you're looking at it on paper in your mind on a computer screen, however you're doing it, I think it allows you to see pitfalls and where waste would happen a lot easier rather than just jumping into it. So I think there's definitely a benefit there, definitely a benefit there.
Speaker 1:I think, being proactive as a planner, you have a benefit or an advantage, because I think you can anticipate your challenges ahead of time. You're going to see where's the obstacles, where's the difficult spot going to come, how am I going to prepare for that? Do I need to train? Do I need to save? Do I need to dig a hole or build a fence or whatever it is that is going to help you overcome this challenge. What you're going to see the challenge ahead of time, and I think also you look at risks and maybe come up with the plan B, maybe come up with ways around potential risks, and I think that's an advantage to just cruising down the road, not knowing what's around the corner and hoping you're ready for it. Knowing what's around the corner and hoping you're ready for it, I think the planner has a confidence that you get from your plan. You are prepared, you're thought out, you can walk through life going okay, I'm ready for this. There's an advantage, I think, to that, I think that's a strength and I think that, like in a situation like with my nonprofit, as I'm articulating our plan, I think it gives you I don't know like a stakeholder assurance where you can say, hey, you know, here's my vision, here's my plan, here's what I'm going to do, and you can see it and look through my's, my plan, here's what I'm going to do, and you can see it and look through my eyes and maybe feel confident in what I'm looking to do.
Speaker 1:And I think a final point to this might be the plan is going to bring better team collaboration. So, you know, if you got a guy who's motivated and spontaneous, yeah, you can get people together. But if this person doesn't execute well or, you know, maybe he's fun and full of charisma but, you know, causes people to have issues every now and again. It's going to be a lot harder to get a team together to say, all right, let's work together, let's collaborate on this. So I think the planner is going to have clear roles and responsibilities. I think that builds a better team. I know I struggle with that a little bit because I'm all about freedom and I want to sort of bubble up people's potentials and I don't always see what they want to do. So I like to give people the opportunity, but in a lot of ways people would rather be led with these clear roles and responsibilities so they know what they're getting into and they don't have to think about it. And then maybe finally, alignment and accountability. So people know where you fit into this plan. You know if there's timelines involved, you know if you're on point or if you're behind the ball. There's accountability and I think really you can accomplish more with a group this way. Now let's look at some negatives to the planner.
Speaker 1:I think a lot of times planners get stuck in their plan and you can get overwhelmed and stressed and get seized up. You know, sometimes when you plan, you just plan down to these microscopic levels that maybe you don't need to. You know, sometimes when you overthink it you don't act. And another piece is you can get overwhelmed. You know, when you have too many details, too many things to pay attention to, too many things to remember, and it can be very overwhelming if you're looking at it. I think in some ways you can sort of look at it as to am I looking through a microscope or am I looking through a telescope or am I just looking through my eyes? And you know the difference of perspective that you get from this. So if you start looking at a microscope, you start seeing all the little teeny teeny holes and bits and pieces and bugs and creatures and all the things. And oh my God, it's a lot bugs and creatures and all the things. And oh my God, it's a lot. And if you look through a telescope you can see so far that you can see so many things. You realize how huge everything is. It can also be overwhelming Sometimes. Just looking through your own eyes and seeing what you can see can be not so overwhelming.
Speaker 1:I think when you're a hardcore planner, a lot of times you're inflexible. So you know we'd like to think we can plan ahead and plan for everything, but the truth is you don't always see what's coming. Sometimes you can have the greatest plan and something will change that will throw everything out of whack, and you know you can create undue stress. You can limit your options and opportunities. You can cut out the possibility for you to pivot when you need to because you're stuck in a plan, and I think sometimes that can get in your way. I think one of the biggest problems with the planners is what they call analysis paralysis. I think you know they just spend day I guess it would be day.
Speaker 1:I'm not so much of a hardcore planner, I'm a somewhat planner, but I can remember working on when I set up my nonprofit, the Human Solution International, and when we were originally setting the thing up I needed to get it set up because I was getting ready to go to a court battle with the government over me providing cannabis medicine to people and I was facing prison time over this and we built this group that was going to offer support to people and I was facing prison time over this and we built this group that was going to offer support to people going through similar cases. And I had all these wonderful people that came from different groups and different backgrounds and we all agreed to create this entity, this nonprofit. But I had one or two people that were just so stuck on planning and they wanted to fine tune everything, get those bylaws perfect, get all the little things, and finally I was like no, we got to go, we got to file this thing and we got to start and we'll figure out on the way. And I'm so glad I did, because I don't think we ever would have launched the thing and both of the people involved ended up not performing and fell off the track early on. So I think inaction is a big deal. I think also, as we discussed a little bit, missed opportunities.
Speaker 1:I think when you plan so much, there's opportunities that come up. Not only do you maybe limit choices to get away from a problem, but also to move yourself to an opportunity and take advantage of a situation that happens briefly. And you know, I think that's definitely a downside of being a planner. I think, again, this is a little bit rehashing it, but neglecting execution. You know being execution, you know planning versus doing. I think a lot of times having the meeting is important, maybe the first time around, but sometimes you go and do the thing and then you have the meeting instead of have the meeting and then maybe do the thing, and I think that's important.
Speaker 1:I think talking about things is generally not doing them. And I think it's important to talk about a thing if you're going to do it to a point, especially if you're going to be doing it with other people, if you're part of a team, but talking about it and talking about it and talking about it, talking about it and talking about it and talking about it generally it's not doing it. And then I think in a lot of ways you know you can get delayed results. You spend so much time planning and again, it might work for you, your plan might get you there quicker, but I think sometimes it goes the other direction. I think you spend so much time planning things that you're spending a lot of the time that you would be doing, thinking about and talking about and planning what you're going to do.
Speaker 1:Another negative side again is inflexibility. I think that you know you get stuck in this rigid structure, this plan that says I got to do this or it's not going to work, or I won't do it unless I can do it this way, and I think that, again, the inability to adapt does far more harm than good is the way I see it. I think sometimes planners also have a fear of failure. I think that you know you set in your mind an expectation, excuse me. You set in your mind how it's going to go and you're anticipating things and you've got it all laid out, you've got it all planned out and sometimes, even when you know a little thing goes wrong. I think sometimes you can really freak out and have this fear of failure and I think maybe finally, overplanning can strain relationships.
Speaker 1:I think that if you insist on your plan, your way or the highway, it puts friction into a collaboration. I think it can create an environment that makes it difficult to work together and strategize and I think, ultimately, an overly detailed plan can complicate communication, because if you are the person who developed the plan, you create the plan, you put it out there and you just think that everybody's going to read it, listen, follow and if they don't, they're not doing it right. And you know there's really not a lot of room to discuss a plan once everybody is on board with the plan, because if you're not going to change it, then what is there to discuss, and so I think overall, um, being a planner has a lot of benefits, but I think that taking it too far and I think that not being flexible is really the thing that gets most. It can be applied to a diet, it can be applied to health goals, meaning fitness goals, all of these things that we talk about, like what I've been dealing with, solving the cancer problem. I've done a lot of research but the you know, the truth is you got to act, you got to do things, you got to take risks, you got to get out there and, you know, put things to the test. So I think that that's definitely.
Speaker 1:There are strengths and weaknesses to being an extra planner. In an extra planner, the other counterpoint to that, the opposite side of that coin, is being spontaneous, and the spontaneous person is exciting and fun and brings with them endless opportunities, because you just never know what they're going to do. But there's also a lot of challenges that comes with this, and I know that I've been very spontaneous in my life and it's brought me plenty of good things, but it's also got me in a lot of trouble, and so let's first look at the positives that would be involved with being spontaneous. So spontaneous person is generally very flexible. You're ready for whatever comes your way, because you don't know what's going to come your way and you don't really have a plan, and so you say, well, I'm going to get up and see what happens. And so you're adaptable, you're open to opportunities. You know you're out there looking for opportunities. I think that's very positive. I think that a lot of times the person who doesn't plan but is aware and maybe just knows what they want, can have an advantage in a lot of situations.
Speaker 1:I think creativity really relies on spontaneity. I think that if you're creative, you have to be able to improvise, you have to be able to flow, you have to be able to. You know, I don't think a painter or a sculptor or a musician necessarily goes I'm going to write this song and it's going to be this way and I'm going to structure this thing and I'm going to do it. Maybe you can, and I'm sure probably some people do, but I think generally when we're being artistic and creative, we flow, we just let it happen and open up that element that allows possibly divine revelation or our inner self or, you know, connecting with whatever energy that we seek to. I think you can only do that if you're open to it and and there's a spontaneity that's required for that. I think that spontaneous thinking, I think it fosters innovation Because, instead of being stuck in a plan and again, that's not necessarily a bad thing, but you're able to entertain the notion of things that might not be possible and sometimes you can explore and discover something new because you're not living within the bounds of a plan or structure. Sometimes you can have a fresh perspective. You know you jump in and try something new that you've never done before. I think it can be inspirational. You know you can. Just let's try this and jump in and try it and not being afraid to fail.
Speaker 1:I think spontaneity is fun and exciting. I think it's really brings out the juice of life. I think that when you think about what makes life enjoyable, worth living, I think spontaneity is a big part of that and I think without some element of spontaneity, life can become rigid and boring or difficult, and I think there's a joy that comes from spontaneity, that only comes from spontaneity. You know there's a thrill. I think you can create some beautiful memories through spontaneity. I think spontaneity is energizing.
Speaker 1:I think when you go out on an adventure, or if you're with somebody especially, I think if you're with somebody who's spontaneous, I think it raises your energy level dramatically. I think it increases a connection with people because you're present. If you're spontaneous, you've got to be watching where you're going, because you don't know where you're going, and I think that you can create better bonds, you can create trust, you can deepen your connections with a spontaneous relationship. I think trust is really important and an adventurous spirit requires trust. If you're going to come, come on, let's go over. This way we're riding horses or we're riding motorcycles or we're running or riding bikes or whatever, and you're saying, come, follow me, I have to trust you pretty blindly to say, all right, let's go and just know that it's going to be okay and there's not really a place for a plan and all of that.
Speaker 1:And I think the spontaneous person has an opportunity for really moving forward with personal growth, because when you're doing things new, going outside of your comfort zone, going outside of your norm, you learn about yourself. You find out what you're made of you, your norm, you learn about yourself. You'll find out what you're made of. You'll find out what you're capable of Getting out of comfort zones, I think is a huge, important part of growth and you can plan that. But I think a lot of times when you just make a decision, I'm going to go for it, I'm going to do that thing that I can't do, and I'm going to do it anyways, and I think a lot of spontaneity is, I think, about being willing to fail and get back up and do it again, and I think I've talked about this before, but I think the idea of failing forward is powerful. I think that being willing to fall on your face and get back up again and learn a little something from it and just keep going, I think spontaneity is definitely an asset for that.
Speaker 1:Now let's look at the downside of the spontaneous side, though. You know, spontaneous people are generally disorganized, they can't find things, chaos, and there's generally the bohemian, spontaneous, fun person has got a lot of problems and chaos. And you know there's a downside of not having any kind of structure if you want to have any kind of professional experience in your life and a lot of time you get unforeseen consequences because you didn't plan for it, you didn't figure it out, you didn't pay attention, you didn't pay the bill, the lights got turned off, you didn't pay the ticket, you got a warrant, you weren't paying attention to where you were going and you ran out of gas, whatever. There's all kinds of unforeseen consequences that come by being spontaneous, especially if you're not prepared and aware. I think spontaneous people tend to be impulsive and I think they tend to be making more risky decisions. Now there's a benefit to that in some ways, especially if the risk-reward equation generally there's more reward to more risk and if you're good at being spontaneous you can capitalize on that. But I think a lot of times you know you miss one big one and it can cripple you, and financially especially, a lot of spontaneous activities can just be very expensive because you didn't think of it through.
Speaker 1:I think inconsistency is a problem with being spontaneous, because I think it can put a strain on a relationship after the fun wears off a little bit. It's fun for a while, but after a while you get burned out. You only have so much emotional equity to spend on being spontaneous. There's a part of a relationship that requires predictability and confidence and consistency, and I don't think that spontaneousness lends itself to predictability. So I think it can make somebody be unreliable and that puts a strain on relationships. I think a lot of times spontaneous people are also storytellers and they're willing to stretch things a little bit and I think that can put a strain on a relationship.
Speaker 1:I think sometimes you miss an opportunity, because you're being so spontaneous, to reflect on your progress, on your action, action on your plan. I think sometimes you rush decisions, you overlook details because you're so busy being reactive and you know the planner may overdo, thinking everything out, but I think the spontaneous one oftentimes misses things. I think you you overlook details. Sometimes. That can lead to mistakes or oversights or missed opportunities. And then, of course, I think you get additional stress because the spontaneous person can oftentimes get themselves into a lot of jams and have conflicts with relationships and you know, a lot of times unexpected things don't go the way you want. A lot of times they do and it's fun, but sometimes they don't and it can be very stressful.
Speaker 1:So I think that both sides I think that both sides have their benefit and their detriment and I think the key to a healthy strategy for approaching life this way is to be capable of making plans, to be mindful of a plan, but to have a willingness to be spontaneous when the time is right, I think, is going to give you the best approach to be able to make the best of both things, and I think that's where wisdom comes in, that's where discernment comes in. Is figuring out, you know, is this one better for me to create a plan and a structure, or is it? Let's see what happens? And you know, I think the well-balanced, healthy person is going to have a combination of both of these. So, anyways, those are my thoughts on the subject. I hope you find it interesting and I look forward to seeing you next time. Thank you for supporting the Healthy Living Podcast. I'm your host, joe Grumbine, and we'll see you next time.
