[MR4D]

Being in my 40's and reading this, the only thing I can do is quote Tyson:

"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." -Mike Tyson

[adamredwoods]

Amen brother. After having a child, I threw all plans out the window.

[shortsightedsid]

Plans are nothing; planning is everything. - Eisenhower

[elevensies]

Long range planning does not deal with future decisions, but with the future of present decisions. - Peter F. Drucker

[spraak]

Er, planning is exactly what I learned after having a child

[toomanybeersies]

Following that metaphor: it's always a good plan to wear a mouth guard so that your teeth don't get knocked out.

[ryanmarsh]

I dont know what serves as the mouth guard in your analogy but it sure as fuck won't stop you from getting laid out.

[dathanb82]

Nah, but you might still have your teeth afterwards.

[jasin]

This is spot on, because often we prepare by wearing a mouth guard, while in reality their protection against getting knocked out basically zero.

[LanceH]

Not true, a mouth guard absorbs a lot of impact from the lower jaw upwards.

[paulpauper]

wont stop the rest of your face from being bloodied

[spraak]

I don't think that should stop you from planning, but just like death is ultimately inevitable, it is good to be healthily aware of failure (getting punched in the mouth). "Oh well, the movie is going to end, might as well not watch it"

[38kkdiu]

Yeah, being in my 40s and looking at that, my immediate thought was "oh, it seems I'm trying to figure out plan Z, even when I had pretty good plans A and B."

My advice from the other side is that there's too many unknowns to plan out your career. Fields shift in terms of content and culture, and you don't know what you like until you're really in the middle of it.

By a lot of metrics, I've achieved plan A, but found out, after a lot of work, that I am not a good fit for it and that plan B has a lot of similar problems. I never had a plan Z.

[kchauhan]

I always do planning. Its not fulfill every time. But, at least I know where I am and how much i done/not done.

[obstinate]

I didn't have a plan and things have been going great so far. So it's a little different when you're not in a zero-sum adversarial situation like a boxing ring.

[jgalt212]

Thank you for your one data point.

[obstinate]

It's kind of you to go out of your way to thank me, and not all the other folks who are providing similar anecdata. I feel blessed.