As much as we’d like it to be different, planning is independent of its outcome.

As much as we hope to be able to control the outcome and see it align with our expectations, the result is always a surprise.

That it is always a surprise is something we tend to forget as we develop experience. We get so used to things happening according to our expectations that only the things that don’t happen according to plan seem to be a surprise.

And yet, looking at the way the story we tell ourselves can play out, we’ll notice that things happening according to our expectations doesn’t necessarily mean they are good or bad.

Looking back at your life, how often did you say, “I knew this would happen?” Has it always been after good news?

We somehow don’t like the idea that it could be a surprise and tell ourselves that we knew it would happen. Despite the occasions on which we hoped that something different would happen, it often truly seems as if we knew.

It is what the story we tell ourselves tells us. The story is there to help us feel safe from uncertainty.

Seeing things as a surprise can be a helpful way to consider the outcome with curiosity instead of jumping to a conclusion.