Where did Mrs. Obama's meticulous planning skills come from? Are you a planner or more spontaneous? How does it impact those around you and your life?

Throughout her life, Michelle Obama has been a meticulous planner. It is evident in her approach to her studies in high school and at Princeton. It is evident in the way she transitioned through jobs as a professional. And it is evident in the way she approached her role as First Lady. Where did that come from? How did Fraser Robinson's approach to life impact his daughter?

Are you a planner or more spontaneous? How does it impact those around you and your life?

I think her planning skills came from wonderfully analytical and brilliant mind. She understood what she needed to do to succeed and she kept herself clearly focused. I am definitely more like her. I think as we are aging we understand the value of taking more risks and being more spontaneous.

I agree with bestmartin about Michelle Obama's mind. It does seem that planning and organization were ingrained from a very early age, probably much of nature and some of nurture as well. It was her way of giving order to her world, even though her world seemed to have little chaos at least as far as her family life.

I do think being an organized person is taught in part by one's parents, but also springs from a person's need have some aspect of one's life under control. I'm definitely a planner, and I swear that's why my husband married me. He calls me his "social secretary." It's not necessarily a good thing; while it insures we have an active life and participate in events we want to get to, I have a tendency to overbook us and sometimes my hubby gets frustrated by that. It also makes me pretty inflexible; I can't just go see a movie with a friend because chances are I've got something planned already, and things come up that I'd like to do but can't because I'm supposed to be somewhere else.

I think in her life it was a combination of nature and nurture. Those skills were taught by her mother and great-aunt both directly and by example. Also she was always very competitve from a young age and that requires planning and dedication. Remember the section where the children were tested on colors when she first started school and how determined she was to get it right.

I think her parents were meticulous planners and that rubbed off on her. There may even have been overt training by them as well. I'm spontaneous in actions but an organizer when it comes to belongings and the household. My husband is NOT spontaneous so often I get deflated when he doesn't get excited about my next adventure. He is also not organized and I'm seriously thinking a HOLE for him might be a great idea. Though I see that Barack's messiness was not confined to the HOlE and it drives Michelle crazy. I can relate

Michelle was raised in a planning family. She planned during her growing up years, so she could be a successful woman. She understood from the beginning that decisions and actions lead to outcomes. I am a planner.

I think the very way Michelle's family encouraged a world of hope and not only possibilities but expectations set the tone for having a life plan. Starting at a very early age, Michelle took advantage of opportunities offered and set a very high bar for herself for success. Meticulous planning, I expect was necessary in the settings she strove to succeed and was a skill that came easily to Michelle. I appreciate the value of planning and try to seek balance with my planning.

Michelle got her planning skills from Czerny Brasuell, her boss and long time friend. She treated Michelle like an adult even though she was a young Princeton student. Czerny took Michelle and some other students to New York, helped Michelle start an after school program for kids and eventually helped Michelle with her campaign goals. What a wonderful mentor!! Yes, I am very much a planner, rarely a spontaneous person! I like things well organized, it keeps me from going crazy!! I have been that way since college as I tend to raise my hand a lot for projects, organization leadership and being a helper. Drives my husband crazy!!!

I think her planning skills started with her brother and the fire drills they had due to their father’s MS. Life happens and you adapt. I was never a planner, very spontaneous due to youth and laziness :). I became a planner after I had 3 daughters within 5 years. Hubby is not a planner and he’s a procrastinator outside of work. So I became a planner. But I believe that my nature of spontaneity helps me deal when things don’t go as planned. Because I wasn’t born a planner (nature vs. nurture) I have a tendency to change things last minute, regardless of whose made plans. Drives my husband nuts and my kids too! They don’t understand it at all. All they saw was the planner.

I think being a planner is a personality trait, found in analytical, type A, people who see a goal and then plan the path to that goal. She had many family members, her brother particularly, who was a planner. She planned from the time she was small, playing with her dolls is a type of planning, what they would do, etc. It served her well as a mother and a wife. I'm a planner, my husband is not, sometimes causes trouble with being spontaneous but also leads to a much calmer, dare I say, planned life.

I agree that Mrs. Obama was influenced by her family, especially her brother, but I think her family in general influenced her. Being a planner is a good thing, unless of course you are working with an ADD, artistic type person and it becomes difficult to rein them in. However, I have found that even though I love planning and being organized and knowing where everything is located, I also appreciate having the opportunity to work with someone who is just the opposite. It gets my creative juices going. In reality, working as a team with people who are the opposite can be rewarding.

I agree with many of the above comments--nature AND nurture in Mrs. Obama's case contributed to her meticulous planning skills. I loved reading the stories of her early school years, and her piano lessons with her aunt! Her mother also apparently had a quiet strength and ability to get done what needed to be done.