How 2 halves can make a greater whole

Dear James, Daniel, and Emily,

There are many types of people in this world, and Kim & I are different types: the planner and the organizer. I am a planner, I love to plan things, making very elaborate plans sometimes. However I am not great on the execution of said plans. Kim is an organizer, not a planner. When she sets her mind to organizing something she can be a whirlwind. When we do something together the best projects are always a combination of my planning it out, hashing out an idea of what we want to do, considering everything that is involved. Then she sets to organizing all of the elements and kicking the project into gear. Then we work together on the project with me usually taking orders from her.

This has actually worked quite well throughout our relationship. I tend to look at things in the big picture, with Kim being more spur of the moment and what has an effect right now. When this breaks down is when I try to implement my own plans on my own without her being involved or buying in. The inevitable result of that is partially completed projects because I usually hit the project in a disorganized fashion. Or when Kim dives into something without planning it out ahead of time, so we run out of the resources to complete the project, again: incomplete project.

Our kitchen has become a classic example of this. We actually planned out most of what we wanted to do. Then gradually bought up the supplies we would need. But then we ran into 2 problems: our planning called for 2 things we couldn't find or buy: a certain type of cabinet top and more importantly time. So the supplies remain in the house, with nothing going on until those 2 elements can come together. Of course we can buy the counter top at some point. But we cannot buy time.

Last night was another classic example. Over the weekend Kim had an idea of using a shelf we had in the shed in the boys room as part of a plan to organize their room a little better. So on Sunday she dug it out and cleaned it off. Last night she decided what color she wanted to paint it. And rather than take some time and figure out how much we needed we just went up to the local Ace and picked 1 can of spray paint, thinking that would do the job, it didn't. So now Kim will have to go to the store today to pick up some more paint, a classic example of her diving into a project without some planning. The problem is that sometimes when the planning is left up to me we end up in paralysis by analysis as I over plan and we can never get anything done.

So the essence of the difference between the two is this: the planner gets an idea, plans it, start the project but bogs down in the middle due to not being able to keep organized and focused. The Organizer looks at something, and has no idea where to start, but dives in anyway, resulting in a haphazard approach. But when the 2 get together they can do wonderful things, like you kids.