Are you free next week?

When travelling to Spanish-speaking countries I contact friends four or five weeks in advance to ask when I can meet them. In 90 per cent of cases they answer that I should contact them the week before I arrive, as they aren’t used to planning so far in advance when it comes to meeting friends.

But if I call some of my Anglo-American friends and ask them to meet me for a coffee next week, chances are that people will tell me that they’re fully booked.

Do you think people meet more often in the UK or the USA where social interactions are planned way more in advance than in Spanish speaking countries? It seems not.

Sometimes too much planning doesn’t leave space for things to happen.

There is a beautiful balance between controlling and being open, between life and goals. Sometimes by leaving space for the unexpected we achieve more than constantly measuring our time in 30-minute slots.

#measuring #planning #unexpected