After reading Leo Babauta's post about living in chaos and the illusion of control, I thought about how much time people spend to work (and some live) clearly according to plan. In this post, Leo very clearly describes all the positive and negative aspects of working and living in chaos, as well as why control is just an illusion.
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To be honest, I have never been able to live and work clearly according to plan. Perhaps this is due to my character and... a little laziness. Or maybe it's because my work has almost always been associated with creativity in its various manifestations. If my mother thought that the table was a mess and it was impossible to work like that, then for me everything was in its place and was always at hand. Anyway, I'm not the only one, and my attempts to live clearly according to the established plan still led to little success — I performed all the tasks set within the established time frame. This was where the successes ended.
Before I read Leo Babauta's post «Living with Chaos», I didn't really think about how I work and why I do it this way. After reading it, I realized that my version is actually not so bad. The most important thing is to learn to feel the right moments and catch luck by the tail, even if it is not spelled out in the work plan for the week.
Have you tried at least sometimes not to live according to plan? At least on weekends or on vacation? You have woken up, you have no schedule and clearly set tasks. Think about what awaits you today? What will happen when you have breakfast? Where will you go, what will you see? You do remember that you are on vacation, right? Since most vacations last 7-12 days, they are usually scheduled almost by the hour — excursions, shopping, relatives. Try to spend at least one day like this. Perhaps your friend will call you and invite you to a meeting in a cafe. There are countless options here.
This is about how we rested in Istanbul for 3 days. No, of course, we conducted a survey among friends who were in Istanbul, searched for information on the Internet and tried to stick to the schedule for the first day. But as soon as we plunged deep into the streets in the city center, all the schedules and plans crumbled. So we just walked around the city, sailed on the ferry, found a lot of delicious cafes where mostly locals dine, beautiful parks, shops and markets are not for tourists.
Live here and now, feel yourself in it. Ask yourself, what is your passion, your vocation? Define your values, live and work in accordance with them.
Imagine that you have a business meeting scheduled. On it, you will discuss certain issues with a business partner and your task is, for example, to determine the directions of work with this partner. You have come, you have prepared questions and suggestions. You sat down at the table and started a conversation. And that's where the unknown begins. You never know if you will be able to negotiate on favorable terms. You can't know 100% what you will be offered. Perhaps during the conversation you will come up with a completely brilliant idea, from which your partner will also be delighted. Are you really going to give it up just because it's not included in your plans?!!
Or you have in your schedule from 9:00 to 11:00 you have scheduled work on articles, and after that you go to a meeting. You can write clearly in a fixed time interval, or maybe you will cope much faster and then you will have an unexpected window that you can use at your discretion. Or while working on an article, you will come up with an unexpected idea that can grow into an interesting project. Will you really give it up?
Even if your meeting and work on the article went according to schedule, something unplanned still happened to you during this. New ideas, suggestions — all this is hovering around us. Are you going to give it up just because it's not happening on schedule?
When you come to the meeting, be prepared for the unexpected and new. Write an article — get ready for unexpected inspiration and new thoughts. Whatever you do, try to do it in accordance with your values and interests. We live in a stream, a lot of interesting ideas and thoughts float past us. Instead of avoiding chaos and clearly following the plans, try to plunge into it, feel all the currents.
Talk to people without clearly defined goals and see what new ideas and opportunities these people can offer you. What you will come to at the end of your conversation.
Only we imagine in our heads that we work and live according to a schedule and it is unshakable. In fact, concreteness and inviolability remain only in our heads. The world around us is changing every second and every second new opportunities open up before us, and brilliant ideas float by.
Don't be a dray horse with blinders that only sees what's ahead of it.
Try to live like this for at least one day and it may change your whole life.
