Do you find yourself contingency planning?

[vulcan]

David Keirsey in "Please Understand Me II" says that this contingency planning sort of strategizing defines an INTJ.

I rarely do this. I only do this when planning my classes for college, in fact. If I can't get one class, then I have backups. But in everything else, my contingency planning happens in the moment. If there is an obstacle to something I wanted to do, I will usually know what to do instead. But other than that, I don't understand this contingency talk.

I do need a "clear" vision of the future or feel like I know where I'm going in life, but other than that, I feel like I don't plan that much.

What about you?

[cielo market]

I've found that I'm rather good at improv planning, but I'm more likely to approach things with a thought-out strategy to AVOID the what-if's. And like you said, I need a clear vision of the future.

[thegnat]

I'm a *big* planner. ie one of my responses in that one thread....where I had a plan for the next week's lab when we walked out of lab this week.

I plan my days out to the lowest amount of time possible. I know what can happen and what I'll do if I don't go through with Plan A. I'll often have Plans, A, B, and C knowing my own inefficiency and others' that I'm working with - I can probably guess the probability of which plan will happen. I do it with tennis, too. I usually have Game Plans A, B, and C. I also do this with future appointments. OK right NOW I can make X appointment but if I have to reschedule I could reschedule here in case something comes up. I like to know what chunks of time are flexible/reschedulable/free time so I can plan around them. I don't *always* execute but I'll execute at least a secondary plan, a plan B or C or even D for something.

I like to know all the possible options and things that could happen as a result of my plans, look at the hypothetical positives and negatives.

I plan classes ridiculously. I know my schedule through Spring semester senior year and what options I could change and what I could take in place of X class.

I can improv but I'm *very often* thought out. Edit - I am *constantly* adapting my plans and creating new ones if things don't get done at X time. Say I start out with Plan A, I'll usually have a Plan B, but if Plan B isn't looking hot, I'll have it modified perfectly by the time comes around to use it. And I'll have the entire rest of the day planned out.

[TruorTupnm]

I read that contingency planning bit and wondered if I am just lazier than the average I. N. T. J. I don't know. I plan ahead, of course, but it's all superly quickly. Is stuff that is obvious to myself not so obvious to others? I don't know. I'll research and time things out in my head for stuff that I am unfamiliar with. I keep useful items for many possible problems, but don't many do that?

[Chainsaw Dundee]

Like the above poster said, I try to eliminate the need for back-up plans by filling holes in my strategy. Instead, I take notice of certain aspects of the situation, and leave my options open for improvised action should the need arise.

[Troublems]

My mind is constantly going with plans. Modifying old ones, creating new ones. As with many INTJs I dislike surprise and hence like to be prepared. That said, I very rarely ever use my contingency plans as I tend to think out plan A for a fair while before acting on it and thus have most of the details thought out in advance.

[rwyatt365]

I read that contingency planning bit and wondered if I am just lazier than the average I. N. T. J. *I don't know. *I plan ahead, of course, but it's all superly quickly. *Is stuff that is obvious to myself not so obvious to others? *I don't know. *I'll research and time things out in my head for stuff that I am unfamiliar with. *I keep useful items for many possible problems, but don't many do that?
No, you're not lazy, or lazier than other INTJs. I know exactly what you're talking about.

I hate "planning". That is, making detailed descriptions of what should be done down to the "n"-th degree. To me, that is a waste of time because "shit happens". You can't know everything that might happen and you can't account for every variation that might come along.

What you CAN do is to make a general game plan and then be flexible enough in your thinking to adjust to the unforeseen. Making up that game plan is a quick process, and doesn't take a lot of effort. It's like when I'm going to an unfamiliar place. I will get out a map and fix in my mind the general direction, a couple of alternative routes, and identify some landmarks. Then, if I run into any roadblocks I can adjust my route to one of the alternatives as I'm traveling. And, if I get completely lost I have that "general direction" compass going in my head and I use that to determine the most likely course.

So, to the original question; yes, I do "contingency plan", but I don't obsess over it.

[thegnat]

Well let me put it this way:

I contingency plan *but* I do it really quickly. I'm very good at seeing potential consequences and planing with respect to them. I kind of "see" a plan before it happens. And I also see its Plans B and C, too ahead of time without effort. So it's easy and effortless for me to contingency plan. And I'm not obsessive - it just happens in my head whether I want it to or not honestly.

Sometimes I'll have a very specific Game Plan and a very general one. Like some days that are tighter on time I'll plan out to the hour. Today is just general: class, hour, turn in hard copy of lab report, break class, lunch, hmm perhaps I should get lunch on my way to the bookstore. get notebooks because I've filled up a few, nap for a good 5 hours so that way I make up more than last night's lack of sleep. Then I'll start working on my take home exam.

Some days will end up being like this
Class 9-10, break 11-2 class, 12-1 lunch 1-4 lab, 4-7 tennis/dinner, 7: meet with someone, hopefully by 8:30 start working on X, by 9:30 start working on Y. Though in reality Y will probably start at 10:30 or maybe 11:30 if meeting goes long over some subject X.

Sometimes I have my free time generally chunked out - like what subject I want to spend the most time on vs the others, etc.

Again this all just comes to me in seconds. So it's no problem.

[ShaiGar]

When i first tried the MBTI i got INT with equal J and P. I read the J and the one thing that hit it for me was the contingency planning. I've been doing that my whole life.

[rwyatt365]

Well let me put it this way:

I contingency plan *but* I do it really quickly. I'm very good at seeing potential consequences and planing with respect to them. I kind of "see" a plan before it happens. And I also see its Plans B and C, too ahead of time without effort. *So it's easy and effortless for me to contingency plan. *And I'm not obsessive - it just happens in my head whether I want it to or not honestly.

Sometimes I'll have a very specific Game Plan and a very general one. *Like some days that are tighter on time I'll plan out to the hour. *Today is just general: class, hour, turn in hard copy of lab report, break class, lunch, hmm perhaps I should get lunch on my way to the bookstore. get notebooks because I've filled up a few, nap for a good 5 hours so that way I make up more than last night's lack of sleep. *Then I'll start working on my take home exam.

Some days will end up being like this
Class 9-10, break 11-2 class, 12-1 lunch 1-4 lab, 4-7 tennis/dinner, 7: meet with someone, hopefully by 8:30 start working on X, by 9:30 start working on Y. *Though in reality Y will probably start at 10:30 or maybe 11:30 if meeting goes long over some subject X.

Sometimes I have my free time generally chunked out - like what subject I want to spend the most time on vs the others, etc.

Again this all just comes to me in seconds. *So it's no problem. *
I see. That sounds very familiar. I do that when setting out to do errands on the weekend. I have a "most efficient path" laid out in seconds, with alternatives as well. It's all quite unconscious and automatic.

[Nomad]

Well let me put it this way:

I contingency plan *but* I do it really quickly. I'm very good at seeing potential consequences and planing with respect to them. I kind of "see" a plan before it happens. And I also see its Plans B and C, too ahead of time without effort. So it's easy and effortless for me to contingency plan. And I'm not obsessive - it just happens in my head whether I want it to or not honestly.

Sometimes I'll have a very specific Game Plan and a very general one. Like some days that are tighter on time I'll plan out to the hour. Today is just general: class, hour, turn in hard copy of lab report, break class, lunch, hmm perhaps I should get lunch on my way to the bookstore. get notebooks because I've filled up a few, nap for a good 5 hours so that way I make up more than last night's lack of sleep. Then I'll start working on my take home exam.

Some days will end up being like this
Class 9-10, break 11-2 class, 12-1 lunch 1-4 lab, 4-7 tennis/dinner, 7: meet with someone, hopefully by 8:30 start working on X, by 9:30 start working on Y. Though in reality Y will probably start at 10:30 or maybe 11:30 if meeting goes long over some subject X.

Sometimes I have my free time generally chunked out - like what subject I want to spend the most time on vs the others, etc.

Again this all just comes to me in seconds. So it's no problem.
I see. That sounds very familiar. I do that when setting out to do errands on the weekend. I have a "most efficient path" laid out in seconds, with alternatives as well. It's all quite unconscious and automatic.
Agreed. In my old career, contingency planning was the job. However, the nature of the beast dictated that you could not foresee all possibilities. It paid to have a lot of information at your fingertips, so you you could improvise on the fly. My assessments always came up with "Remarkably resourceful."

-Nomad

[Santana28]

My whole life is one big contingency plan. In fact, i have problems because constantly planning things and examining situations leads me to overlook details of which i previously ruled out. Its something i am trying to work on.

I bounce back and forth. Either i am 100% spontaneous, or 100% planned... i have a hard time finding the happy medium...

[Firelie]

Yeah, I make tons of plans and backup plans and "what if" plans. I don't, however, follow up on my own plans very well (I'd say I only do it half of the time).

[GOD]

David Keirsey in "Please Understand Me II" says that this contingency planning sort of strategizing defines an INTJ.

I rarely do this. I only do this when planning my classes for college, in fact. If I can't get one class, then I have backups. But in everything else, my contingency planning happens in the moment. If there is an obstacle to something I wanted to do, I will usually know what to do instead. But other than that, I don't understand this contingency talk.

I do need a "clear" vision of the future or feel like I know where I'm going in life, but other than that, I feel like I don't plan that much.

What about you?

Contingency planning is simply making concious decision to mitigate risk.

Its like having enough money in the bank that if you lose your job then you can meet your bills until you get another one.... there's plenty of situations in ordinary day life to determine whether you provide for contingencies.

Simple Planning is not the same as contingency planning, contingency planning at an INTJ level is also about probablistic likelihood and sufficient and appropriate mitigation.

In a couple of companies I started the notion of "self insurance" where they had so many containers in transit or owned so many houses that they could self insure rather than have an external provider cover individual events. (In my mind this is a reverse contingency cost saving).

[Ryokurin]

I usually try to go about it on the fly. I'll think of several solutions and just pick the best one. If I get burned or its something I think is important then I'll go into overdrive in a sense. For instance, I used to do in home computer repair and there were several times where I could have fixed the problem on site if I had one program or a windows disk. As time went on I ended up building a 20 disk set of windows versions down to 3.1, utilities and virus definitions for each one and whatever other utility I could find. On the plus side it made me look like a guru, but on the other hand I ended up spending a ton of personal time to keep it all current.

[The Many]

Yes, I do this all the time, I'm afraid. I plan my weeks in advance, and then go ahead according to plan. I do, however, tend to leave some room for being spontaneous and changing things around, which often is quite necessary since there is more to life than what is in my mind... sometimes, at least. :-/

I often make up some other plans too, regarding how to do in certain situations, how to proceed etc. Also I'm not that introverted, which leads, and has led, to me often ending up in charge of many situations. I quite enjoy it actually, if for no other reason than that things get done my way, which, of course, always is the best way to do it. :D

[wolf]

I am almost certain my manager and I are both INTJs. We constantly contingency plan, and it's funny to notice just how often we do it, when I think about it. No matter what the problem, we already had numerous options predefined to solve the problem in addition to the optimal one that we selected.

So, yes, I definitely contingency plan, constantly.

[deicruxified]

being the head of the team, i did a lot of contingency planning especially this last week's trip wherein we almost died of hypothermia. 1hr before the incident, a "eureka" moment cam which i blurted out immediately coz i thought it's gonna be helpful. plan a was at the moment we reach the campsite, infj and me will be setting up the tent while the other intj and xsxx cook. then at 9000+ feet at an elevation of 80 degrees, cold winds and rain rushed in, so the moment we reached the campsite, we used my eureka plan. we pitched the tent in 15 minutes which is phenomenal coz we did it in 45 minutes at the first camp.

[toonia]

I always have several contingency plans. This could be influenced by the fact that my childhood was not temporally stable. Those times when everything is riding on a single plan, I have a deep sense of uneasiness. This typically remains until I have the contingency plans in place.

Plan like a pessimist, experience life like an optimist.

[mind_wander]

I'm a *big* planner. *ie one of my responses in that one thread....where I had a plan for the next week's lab when we walked out of lab this week. *

I plan my days out to the lowest amount of time possible. *I know what can happen and what I'll do if I don't go through with Plan A. *I'll often have Plans, A, B, and C knowing my own inefficiency and others' that I'm working with - I can probably guess the probability of which plan will happen. *I do it with tennis, too. *I usually have Game Plans A, B, and C. * I also do this with future appointments. *OK right NOW I can make X appointment but if I have to reschedule I could reschedule here in case something comes up. I like to know what chunks of time are flexible/reschedulable/free time so I can plan around them. *I don't *always* execute but I'll execute at least a secondary plan, a plan B or C or even D for something.

I like to know all the possible options and things that could happen as a result of my plans, look at the hypothetical positives and negatives.

I plan classes ridiculously. I know my schedule through Spring semester senior year and what options I could change and what I could take in place of X class.

I can improv but I'm *very often* thought out. *Edit - I am *constantly* adapting my plans and creating new ones if things don't get done at X time. *Say I start out with Plan A, I'll usually have a Plan B, but if Plan B isn't looking hot, I'll have it modified perfectly by the time comes around to use it. *And I'll have the entire rest of the day planned out.


I do agreed with you and cielo market, on this one. I also do the same thing, especially when you got teams or group thinking. By the way, thanx Qwerty, for helping me on my contingency planning, hey always needed someone to fill in the detailed gaps that I missed out. Isn't that the reason why we INTJ's help each other out? Disprove without having to hurt someone's feeling, except someone else's thinking strategies.

[GOD]

One thing though, I contingency plan less than I used to.. Perhaps I am more aware "intuitively" of any potential adverse situations simply through experience.

I think too much planning (regimentation) is a killer for spontaneity. I like just sitting around mulling over my concepts and refining them in my mind like a sculpture would in reality.

To me planning is an S activity (that’s what sensors like). It’s the "contingency" which is the risk mitigation and thus stepping back and seeing the whole chain of potential events which is the ITJ function.

I think this "contingency/risk mitigation" and the observation why INTJ's tend to let others ask them out... are similar in nature.

[The Rose]

David Keirsey in "Please Understand Me II" says that this contingency planning sort of strategizing defines an INTJ.

I rarely do this. I only do this when planning my classes for college, in fact. If I can't get one class, then I have backups. But in everything else, my contingency planning happens in the moment. If there is an obstacle to something I wanted to do, I will usually know what to do instead. But other than that, I don't understand this contingency talk.

I do need a "clear" vision of the future or feel like I know where I'm going in life, but other than that, I feel like I don't plan that much.

What about you?Contingency planning for me is when I imagine all the things that could go wrong, and the worse case scenarios, and prepare ahead of time to overcome those problems, so that if they happen, I'm immediately ready to act. I habitually do this all the time.

[mind_wander]

Well let me put it this way:

I contingency plan *but* I do it really quickly. I'm very good at seeing potential consequences and planing with respect to them. I kind of "see" a plan before it happens. And I also see its Plans B and C, too ahead of time without effort. *So it's easy and effortless for me to contingency plan. *And I'm not obsessive - it just happens in my head whether I want it to or not honestly.

Sometimes I'll have a very specific Game Plan and a very general one. *Like some days that are tighter on time I'll plan out to the hour. *Today is just general: class, hour, turn in hard copy of lab report, break class, lunch, hmm perhaps I should get lunch on my way to the bookstore. get notebooks because I've filled up a few, nap for a good 5 hours so that way I make up more than last night's lack of sleep. *Then I'll start working on my take home exam.

Some days will end up being like this
Class 9-10, break 11-2 class, 12-1 lunch 1-4 lab, 4-7 tennis/dinner, 7: meet with someone, hopefully by 8:30 start working on X, by 9:30 start working on Y. *Though in reality Y will probably start at 10:30 or maybe 11:30 if meeting goes long over some subject X.

Sometimes I have my free time generally chunked out - like what subject I want to spend the most time on vs the others, etc.

Again this all just comes to me in seconds. *So it's no problem. *
I do that too, all in a few seconds, but handy to have a sheet out, if you forgot what days are what.

[American Quest 1983]

David Keirsey in "Please Understand Me II" says that this contingency planning sort of strategizing defines an INTJ.

I rarely do this. I only do this when planning my classes for college, in fact. If I can't get one class, then I have backups. But in everything else, my contingency planning happens in the moment. If there is an obstacle to something I wanted to do, I will usually know what to do instead. But other than that, I don't understand this contingency talk.

I do need a "clear" vision of the future or feel like I know where I'm going in life, but other than that, I feel like I don't plan that much.

What about you?

It truly depends on the situation. If it is something that interests me or relevant to my future, then I will plan it out. When I was in college for example, I planned out the four years that I would spend in college. My planning included all the classes that I would take, and credits that I would need to graduate within four years. Heck, I never depended on a college advisor to help me sort out my classes and occasionally I would have to correct them. Even now, I have three contingency plans for the next 10 to 15 years of my life. I also do a lot of financial planning as well.

[Paul V]

I didn't, back when I was an INTP. But upon learning about contingency plans, and trying them out, I have to say I'm starting to like them a lot. It's something I can easily imagine myself applying daily in my life, for any plan I might make.

Go contingency plans! ;)

[hopscotch]

My contingency planning mostly relates to my career choices. *I always apply for jobs I'm only marginally interested in/qualified for in case I don't get the jobs I want most.

When I was in school, I did the same thing with my classes. *I looked ahead to see what prerequisites would be needed to get into specific classes and ensured that I enrolled in them. *I then divided the interesting classes into several groups: program requirements, desired electives, back-up electives and back-ups to the back-ups.

I agree that having a strictly regimented life isn't conducive to spontaneity. *It can also limit your options if you become fixated on one particular objective, and remain so even after it becomes unobtainable. *I certainly need structure to be able to enact my visions for the future, but I don't need every second of my life predetermined. *I, and my circumstances, will undoubtedly change, after all.

[Danellian]

I like to plan things out a lot, and I'm very rigid about it. I hate it when things don't go according to the plan. I dislike contingencies becasue they force me to improvise, which means I have to act spontaneously. This is not something I like to do, I am a very methodical and thorough person. I like the definition of contingency planning as planning to minimize the probability of risk. I plan this way all the time. I think of all the factors involved in a situation, and when I go about planning it, I assign variables to those factors and combine them in such a way that the probablity of a negative outcome is minimized and the probablity of a positive outcomse is maximized. I like to follow a routine, so I generally know how I will spend my days. I plan alternative courses of action to some degree, but for me, the biggest emphasis lies in making sure the original plan, which is, in my mind, the best plan, is carried out.

[mind_wander]

I like to plan things out a lot, and I'm very rigid about it. *I hate it when things don't go according to the plan. *I dislike contingencies becasue they force me to improvise, which means I have to act spontaneously. *This is not something I like to do, I am a very methodical and thorough person. *I like the definition of contingency planning as planning to minimize the probability of risk. *I plan this way all the time. *I think of all the factors involved in a situation, and when I go about planning it, I assign variables to those factors and combine them in such a way that the probablity of a negative outcome is minimized and the probablity of a positive outcomse is maximized. *I like to follow a routine, so I generally know how I will spend my days. *I plan alternative courses of action to some degree, but for me, the biggest emphasis lies in making sure the original plan, which is, in my mind, the best plan, is carried out.
well said, yeah I do the same thing; its difficult, if the project is huge. Because you have to think about the other variables to fit into those holes, but thats what your team members there for, help you give their inputs, suggestions, their ideas, then you find someplace to put them into your master grand design.

[yllmar]

I contingency plan. All the time. It's a constant process, because while I am acting out what I had originally planned (more like an outline, really) the plan morphs as I go. I don't sit down and draft this elaborate plan of attack, visualized every possible contigency effectively enough to see every absolute possibility and outcome, but often times what I had envisioned is sufficient.

I've recently been watching a very popular U.S. show called Prison Break, and I believe that the character of Michael Schofield is an INTJ. I refer to this character because in the show he has every probable scenario planned out flawlessly. This is not how I live my life because this isn't realistic. There is no way you can predict every outcome as you live life, so I have an idea of what I want to do and how I do it. The closer I get to the desired outcome, the more I am working it out in an improvisational manner.

I remember being in a foreign country not long ago, and I drove my wife absolutely crazy. We were looking to go and see the sites, and I was constantly letting her in on my planning process. Things like, "If we miss this train stop, we can take this one, this one, this one, or that one. If we can't get to the train station in time, we only have to wait a few minutes for the next one, or we can take the subway if you like. I know the signs aren't in English, but that's ok because all the trains essentially stop in the same places regardless of direction. We just have to pay attention to what stop is next, and we can adjust where we are after we figure that out. When we go home, we can either walk up the street the same way we came, or we can look for that closer subway station we saw on the map." etc etc... It got to the point to where I was told, "I don't care about all the details, just tell me where we are going and shut up about it." And here I was thinking I was allowing her to be part of the planning process, and was sharing the moment. This was before we learned about MBTI and the differences between INTJ and ESTJ. :D

[Jedi_sena]

I plan and often base a decision on how it will curb the amount of resulting variables. I am always trying to anticipate the outcome and have endless contingency plans thought through thoroughly. I actually predict possible outcomes with good accuracy, but I also trust myself to decide well in the moment if needbe.

[Wildflower]

I make contigency plans if the situation allows for it but this something only true for me since I was in my 30 thirties or so. I got tired of everything being a darned disaster all the time.

[Hdier]

I always have a plan B, C, and D:

Plan B: Improvise

Plan C: Improvise Diffrently

Plan D: Improvise my way out, untill I can think of a better plan (though sometimes I do this in plan C, or once in a while B)

The three back up plans I always have are because I find it impossible to predict every variable, so I only have one or two plans, usually.

[INTJoe]

Yeah I do this. I did it in school, and most recently when I got friends together to go camping on a day that was pretty wet, they were concerned and I sold them on the idea that if it rained on us that night, we'd head 1 hour further West to Austin and party and crash in a hotel room instead. The campsite was really cheap, so having to pay for a hotel room + campsite on the same night wasn't a huge deal.

I know I'm very conservative in most things in life. I don't like taking risks, unless they are very calculated and I can sustain the damage done if something doesn't turn out as hoped for. I'd assume INTJ's would be viewed as conservative by many of the MBTI types. It seems like almost everybody is "riskier" than myself, but I think most of them aren't calculating, they are just too dumb to plan ahead or foresee potential problems.

Some people are obviously risky, but can pull it off, but for the most part, I think many people are way way riskier than they can handle.

Such as getting married at age 20, having kids at age 21 and 23, buying a home at age 24, and having two more kids by age 28, then wondering why they are heading towards bankruptcy in their mid-30's.

[banzai]

When am I NOT contingency planning?

So I'm a control freak who is highly invested, mentally and emotionally, in life going how I want it... I can't help but make the most of my impeccable planning and execution abilities. :)

[Riverratt]

I literally cannot rest, unless I have a plan, and a couple of back up plans, for everything from "the strange sound the car is making" to "what am I going to fix for a meal" the next day..

I have several contingencies in mind for ALL, plans I was up to 3 AM last night, working on some plans, even tho I needed to be back up at 6 AM. My wife has told me of an upcoming problem, at night, when I am in the bed, and it worries me so badly that I must get up out of bed and come up with a workable solution

[Jedi_sena]

Funny that risk taking was mentioned...my siblings and I always played that game where one kid falls backward into the arms of another who catches him just before he hits the ground. Well, I was oldest so always the catcher, but I'd see how much fun it was for the faller and would always try but could never trust ANYONE to do the catching. I used to panic when my brother would climb trees because I didn't see how the risk would be worth the fun. I'm just learning all kinds of things about myself today.

[LSB]

I can't stand planning in detail, it's too rigid.

I do like to have a general overview of what to do and then adapt such plans once the time comes to see what will actually be needed.

[robin.]

Oh man this describes me perfectly. I ALWAYS have back-up plans...you should have seen me scouring the university registrar for my classes next semester. I had a 4 page word document listing each possible course, the requirements it would fulfill, the possible times I could take it, and the potential schedules I could have. I was up until 4 one night trying to get things right, only to have to repeat the process later on. This probably wasn't really necessary, but I would have been flipping out about it and unable to sleep if I hadn't done that.

[intj808]

I often find myself doing mental contingency planning. I'll only plot it all out on paper when it is something very critical and complicated. Keirsey also mentioned that we are masters of serial order - what follows what and how all the steps fit together as a whole. I guess that also means being able to foresee all the permutations of steps that would work, going hand in hand with contingency planning. I think he meant that we are masters of contingency planning because we are mentally built for it, not that we do it formally and incessantly.

[Hdier]

I just realized; when you say contingency planning, you do mean making back-up plans, right? Because even though I generally only have one or two plans, they always have escape hatches built in.

[Jedi_sena]

"escape hatches" HA! HA! I love that expression! And...yes, we are talking about backup plans, but that sorta implies that we only have a plan A, B, & C. But some of us have a "Section A Paragraph 2.1b plan." Yes, a multitude of "escape hatches!"

[Thistle]

But some of us have a "Section A Paragraph 2.1b plan." Yes, a multitude of "escape hatches!"

Absolutely!

My mind is almost constantly producing, reviewing and amending flow charts, scenario planning and developing strategies to manipulate current situations. The cogs are always whirring away.

This said, I worked in project management a few years ago and did not like the planning involved therein. I think I perceived it to be too routine.

[danalaina]

i do it without even thinking about it, actually.

when one plan falls through, i almost always find that i've got a new idea lined up and fleshed out without really being aware that i did it.

it seems more or less constant for me and probably just a subprocess.

[Amaranth]

I find myself always thinking about the worst case scenario and how it can be avoided or mitigated. Sometimes I think such contingency planning is a bad thing, because it seems to be so negative, but just when I'm thinking that I shouldn't dwell so much on the worst-case scenario, one of my plans saves my ass in a very big way and I decide that my mentality is still serving me well. The thing is, I've made so much progress just by anticipating consequences and assessing risk - I've avoided mistakes that others in my life have made, and what mistakes I have made have never been made twice. In this case, the benefits of incessant planning outweigh the costs.

[Hypomanic]

I hate "planning". That is, making detailed descriptions of what should be done down to the "n"-th degree. To me, that is a waste of time because "shit happens". You can't know everything that might happen and you can't account for every variation that might come along.

What you CAN do is to make a general game plan and then be flexible enough in your thinking to adjust to the unforeseen. Making up that game plan is a quick process, and doesn't take a lot of effort. It's like when I'm going to an unfamiliar place. I will get out a map and fix in my mind the general direction, a couple of alternative routes, and identify some landmarks. Then, if I run into any roadblocks I can adjust my route to one of the alternatives as I'm traveling. And, if I get completely lost I have that "general direction" compass going in my head and I use that to determine the most likely course.

So, to the original question; yes, I do "contingency plan", but I don't obsess over it.

^That's exactly how I view contingency planning. When 'shit happens' I make a comprehensive plan up right there to solve it.

[PortInStorm]

SO TRUE:
- never playing "trust" (I never ever trust people to take care of me, I take care of myself and others)
- having all kinds of kids saying "there's never a great financial time to have kids", then being dragged down by debt and depression (another reason kids don't look appealing, no 'escape hatch' that's acceptable to me)
- being a pessimist and assuming things will go wrong, always looking for ways to protect yourself. I've seen and heard too many unescapable, disastrous situations to leave health and safety to chance.

[Paul V]

SO TRUE:
- never playing "trust" (I never ever trust people to take care of me, I take care of myself and others)
- having all kinds of kids saying "there's never a great financial time to have kids", then being dragged down by debt and depression (another reason kids don't look appealing, no 'escape hatch' that's acceptable to me)
- being a pessimist and assuming things will go wrong, always looking for ways to protect yourself. I've seen and heard too many unescapable, disastrous situations to leave health and safety to chance.

Hearing it from someone else makes it sound bad, but that's how I think. Minus #2. I think that there really IS a financial time to have kids. If you don't mind making certain compromises and sacrifices.

[Ribcakes]

what is surprising for me is that most of the time i don't realize i am contingency planning.
a good example would be when i (rarely) play sports. i end up making passes and shot without really even thinking and they have about a 87% success rate so far.
for more definite things, i.e. school and the like, i always tend to have a back up even if i am not aware of it

[Myrak]

I plan, but plan to avoid any foreseeable 'pot holes'. Of course there's gonna be things that don't go exactly the way you thought they would, which is why I leave my original plans a little open-ended with a bit of room to improvise, and also to cover my ass if something does go wrong.

I do the above for future situations, but once I'm actually living the plan, I tend to think about what I'm doing a LOT more. "Should I do this? What about that? Now if that were to happen, I would...". I can't stop myself. For me, it feels more efficient to 'plan on the spot', which now looks like an oxymoron. haha.

[Jedi_sena]

I agree. The more you get into the situation, the more details come to light and the more improvising you must do. I can usually foresee what the likely possible outcomes will be.