Monday 2 July 2012

Planning 101

I don't remember the last time I felt extremely helpless which is a good thing because I hate being there. It makes me question the amount of authority I have over my life and the authority others have over mine. Now I remember! The last time I felt extremely helpless was the last time I planned. 
I am in fact, an intense planner, I love planning to the extent that I live my life through these plans because they hardly ever work out. So finally I thought to myself why don't they? Why am I not able to see my plan to the end?

So I came up with three reasons why I think my plans usually don't work out first being, the plans are usually unrealistic. I'm not going to be the youngest millionaire on earth before turning 21 unless my dad decides to give me a part of his fortune right now. It's important to have realistic goals, goals that match your perception and your abilities. Goals that will keep you going not because everybody's doing it but because you are passionate about it. I won't be an amazing cook just because my mom wants me to be. I will however be more than an amazing cook because I want to be.

The second problem is excessive dreaming. I spend so much time fussing over an idea that I lose interest in it. I plan, research, imagine, more or less I've actually lived it to the extent that I get bored with the idea, especially ideas that involve changes,  eventually I decide to put it at the back burner for another time. Probably add it to the top 10 list of things I want to to do sometime later in my life. However, this makes me really sad at the end of the day because I have put in a lot of effort formulating the idea and probably involved a lot of people in the plan. Disappointing to say the least.

Finally, the most hugest and difficult problem to get rid of is people. When the most part of your plan depends on other people, it's probably not going to work out. Not because they don't want you to have what you want, which is not always the case I must warn, but because they don't want to do what you want to. So many plans have been cancelled, exciting plans I must add, exciting for me of course but they have been cancelled because my friends and family are more passionate about sleeping in the morning than anything else. Also plans of working abroad, moving to another country, getting a new car, getting married or any other big important decision in your life involves the opinions of others. Ever wondered why?
Because we care too much. We care more about what people think about us, about the decisions we make more than we care about the increasing poverty in India. We care about our reputation more than our principles. We care about what other people want more than what we want. We want people to think highly of us while we think very little of ourselves.
It's really important for us to realize that people are going to scrutinize. It's what they do, it's what we all do. Whether you wear a headscarf or you don't, people are going to scrutinize you. Whether you are a science major or a commerce major people are going to undermine you. There's always going to be someone who dislikes who you are and that's not your problem.
I don't want to be a person whose life is made up of someone else's dreams and aspirations. Most importantly, I don't want my life to be someone else's plan. I want it to be my plan, my idea.

And if I don't get where I want to I'm not going to mope neither am I going to force my dream on someone else. Just because I did not get what I want I am not going to assume I never will and that nobody else will ever get what they want. I will encourage people who share their dreams with me or those who need my help, old or young. Nobody is too young to dream big and outrageous and nobody's too old to dream big or small.

Maybe that's all that my plans need, a tiny grain of encouragement.

P.S. I know many people who think planning is a waste of time but we all plan at one point or another, we plan trips, parties, timetables etc. Remember if you're not happy with your present it's only because you did not plan well in your past.

 ZPN3CM9X598X

No comments:

Post a Comment