Stop Futile Planning—Learn to Live With Uncertainty and 'Do the Next Most Necessary Thing'

Have you ever noticed how life keeps overwhelming even your best-laid plans? You set the perfect schedule only for an urgent call, a technology glitch, or a weather surprise to upend it. Planning is useful—until it morphs into a desperate search for security, a way to avoid facing uncertainty. Deep down, you realize there’s never a way to guarantee the future. The very act of craving control, psychologists have found, can actually increase anxiety, making us feel less prepared for challenges, not more.

What’s the alternative? It’s not abandoning all plans but understanding that a plan is just a thought, a compass rather than a contract. Every day, the only real opportunity is the specific present moment you’re living in, so the best technique is to do the next most necessary thing. This means shifting out of hope, anxious waiting, and over-thinking, and acting purposefully, now. Whether you're facing unexpected illness, upheaval at work, or simply a wave of smaller stumbling blocks, choosing one meaningful action in the here-and-now is always more powerful than waiting until every doubt is erased.

As philosophy and behavioral science alike suggest, progress and well-being are found in the daily application of practical action—not by over-engineering the future, but by participating fully in the one point in time you ever control.

Accept that no matter how carefully you plan, life will throw you curveballs—so make peace with uncertainty. As you plan, do so flexibly, letting your intentions guide rather than dictate your actions. Several times a week, or even each morning, pause to ask yourself what the next most necessary thing is, and move forward with that, letting the distant future tend to itself. You might not feel ready, but act anyway, knowing that absolutely everyone is making it up as they go. As you take these steps, your confidence grows one moment at a time.