“Man plans, god laughs.“
Because of causal opacity, plans that lay out what will happen and when are doomed to failure — the future is fickle. Most people think of plans as requiring some type of prediction, so the whole idea of making a plan without making predictions seems like an oxymoron, but it is not. There’s another way to make a plan, which is to lay out goals and how to run experiments to get you closer to your goal, which doesn’t make predictions (and is hence nonpredictive) but is still a plan.
Reading
Predictive Planning I plan on reading one hundred books this year, I have a reading list and I will start at the top of the list and work my way down.
Nonpredictive Planning I will make sure that my bookshelf is stocked with interesting books, and when I am drawn to a book I will read it as long as it holds my interest. I am free to not read any book, or read the same book multiple times.
Self Improvement
Predictive Planning I have read that the keys to happiness are X, Y, and Z. I will do them all.
Nonpredictive Planning I will experiment with X, Y, and Z, and keep what works and stop what does not.