darwinist wrote:

Humans have a very powerful ability to make plans. However, like any of
our abilities, it may sit unused, undeveloped and unrefined.

As with any subject we may study or any skill we may practice; planning
is achieved with innate, in-built faculties which have been applied to
a specific situation. We must adapt, train and learn new things in
order to put to use our inborn abilities.

Our minds are by no means perfect, and when we let the pursuit of
better plans and better planning techniques slip, we start to lose
opportunities and accumulate new risks.

Not being able to plan for everything at once, the first and foremost
concern should be properly dealing with the present. Fortunately it is
this subject about which there is the most abundant information at our
disposal.

We will not get very far, however, if we don't connect things in the
present to broader pursuits and ambitions. If we don't see how this
situation will create the next, or how our attitudes will create our
habits, then we are going to have a difficult time making decisions
that serve us over the long term.

If we can make decisions that deal properly with the context but still
address our broader ambitions; then the plans that we accumulate over
time will be of the most useful variety. If we are able to do this
repeatedly, it will contribute to habits and tendencies that reflect
the best of our intentions.

Planning may be a species-wide ability, but doing it well is a vast and
complicated challenge which can provide a lifetime of free and
practical education.

In terms of complexity and everyday importance, planning is a subject
at least on par with writing or mathematics. I submit, therefore, in
terms of formal research and education, that it deserves the same
attention.

How much do you know about mathematics?