What’s the Point of Planning Anyway?

Originally published August 26, 2025

Sometimes it feels like the world is going to hell.

So why bother planning a career, saving for the future, or even starting a family?

It is easy to feel nihilistic about the future. Honestly, I do not disagree with the feeling. The headlines around climate, politics, and economics can weigh heavy, like holding bricks above your head while standing in quicksand.

Looking back over my own 44 years, history has thrown curveballs at every stage of life:

-When I was 10, it was Desert Storm and the Middle East.

-By college, it was the tech bubble and then 9/11.

-A few years into my career, the housing crisis hit.

-While raising kids, it was the 2020 pandemic.

-And I know I missed some.

Every one of those moments could have pushed me toward nihilism and the thought: why plan at all?

But here is the thing. Each time, we came through it. Not without pain. Not without setbacks. But we moved forward.

Now I think about my kids. My daughter is 20, stepping into a career world that AI is reshaping by the day. My boys are 9 and 10, and I wonder what their futures will look like in terms of technology, society, housing and even relationships. There are so many unknowns.

That is why I describe myself not as a nihilist, but as a realist. A skeptic, maybe, but one who still believes planning matters.

We cannot control the chaos. We can only plan for what we know now. Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

Life has cloudy days. But cloudy days are followed by sunshine. That is the rhythm of history and of life.

So do not let uncertainty steal your hope. Keep building, keep dreaming, keep preparing for a future for yourself, your family, and your community.

As the old 80s sitcom put it: “You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both, and there you have…the facts of life.”