An article written by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits stopped me.
It was called Why We Overplan.
It stopped me because it reinforced a belief that I was living by for years.
You’ll be surprised to know that I am anti-planning!
Why?
Simply because, life plans never work as planned.
Life is so dynamic and we should be as flexible as possible.
Here are 5 things you can do better than planning
1. Live like a good traveler
“A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.” – Lao Tzu
This is essential. You need to perceive everything in life as a journey and no body likes a good journey to end.
Accordingly, a simple life should have no destination. It should be a journey that we enjoy every part of it. If it has a destination, then it means our progress will end at a certain point.
Give your life flow by enjoying every moment. Stop planning and be flexible to change.
2. Find your passion
Having no plan doesn’t mean that you’re going to wander aimlessly through life.
First, you should choose the journey that you’re going to enjoy the most. That’s finding your passion and purpose in life.
As Americans say, “Love it or leave it”
When you define your exciting journey, start exploring the ground or the playing field. Don’t set rigid goals and plans without having a complete overview of what the field looks like. Focus on living your passion without putting stress or pressure that you should accomplish certain things before given deadlines.
Enjoy your passion.
3. Have a general strategy
When you identify your journey, there are several routes you can take in the direction of your purpose.
The route you’re going to choose is what you can consider as the general strategy.
For example, I fulfill my passion for success and motivation through blogging and speaking. This is my general strategy. Another person can travel in the same direction or share the same passion, but take a different route.
Pick your strategy and be flexible to change, if you find a better way. Just avoid rigid plans.
4. Give yourself space
Don’t stuff your life and time with too many things to do.
Don’t let your passionate enthusiasm push you to add a ton of items to your to-do list. Give yourself a room to breathe and fully enjoy each experience.
Don’t rush. Maintain the natural flow of things. Give your self permission to enjoy the experience.
Remember, you’re in a journey that has no destination…no end. So, give yourself space to find your joy.
5. Pick up your priorities wisely
Since you have no plans, you need to practice picking up the choices that will bring you the most joy in a given moment.
Always ask yourself, “Will this bring me the most joy? Is this congruent with my ideal path?”
Don’t allow everyday trivial matters and unforeseen distractions take your sight off your joyful path.
Only pick the action that will not drift you away from your chosen passionate journey and that will bring you the most joy at any given moment…(I know this is IDEAL. So, I would say, do this as much as you possibly can)
You won’t be able to live that fluidly, if you think you have to stick to rigid plans.
We can miss out a lot of wonderful experiences that life can offer us, if we care about our plans more than we care about our joy.
I’m living by the above guidelines for years now and I’m enjoying my life so much. I follow the flow, instead of living under a constant pressure of having to execute rigid plans.
Life is so big and dynamic that it can’t be contained in a plan.
A simple life is a life of a good traveler who has no fixed plans. Just pick your most enjoyable journey or path, and enjoy every step as much as you can by picking up the right choices and let life naturally unfolds.
A simple life is a life of FLOW.
I would like to leave you with this epic video:
Do you think this video relates to what we’ve discussed in this post?!
Share your thoughts in the comments.
* Photo Credit: by mikebaird
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