I've been thinking about vision lately. I need vision. But what the fuck is "vision," anyway? I think it's the wrong word. The problem with "vision" is that it sounds too important. "Vision" implies something amazing like "I'm going to free the slaves" or "I'm going to become an astronaut."

There's two problems with that, at least for me: First, trying to come up with a vision big enough to fill my entire life is so abstract that it's almost meaningless. My life is too big to contain in a single vision. Second, even if I did embrace a vision like "become an astronaut," and even if I actually followed through with it, I'm still going to spend most of my life doing stuff that's unrelated to becoming an astronaut -- like eating lunch, or planning a vacation, or killing time on a Saturday night. A grand vision isn't going to help me much with the mundane stuff that fills most of my time.

Instead of vision, I like the word "plan." You need a plan. You need a plan for this weekend. You need a plan for how to make sure the kids stay healthy. You need a plan for vacation this summer. Your MAP is a plan. You may or may not have a plan for your entire life. I don't, and I suspect that I never will. But I can have a lot of other smaller-sized plans for all of the things I'm doing in life.

The opposite of having a plan isn't inaction. Not having a plan means doing the default thing. So not having a plan for this Saturday night means that you'll just default to the path of least resistance, whatever that may be for you -- playing videogames, or going out to eat at the same place you always go, or asking your wife what she wants to do instead of giving her a plan. Doing the default thing may not be terrible, but it's boring, it's not an adventure, and it doesn't make you stretch and grow. You avoid the default thing by making a plan.

For purposes of MRP, I don't think my wife really cares if I have a grand "vision" for my life. But she does want me to have a plan. Or rather, lots of plans -- plans for the little stuff and plans for the big stuff and plans for everything in between.

So if you're stuck in a loop that says, "I can't think of what I want to do with my life. So until I do, I guess I have no choice but to sit around and play videogames," stop doing the default thing. Stop leaving things up to other people, or up to random chance, or just letting the stream carry you along to wherever. Having vision means having a plan.