Should life go according to our plan?

I have had thousands of goals. Some have materialised, while most of them have not and instead turned out in ways I could have never imagined – moved to a country I never thought I would, switched career industries, started and ran my own business, gained a relationship across the globe I could not even speak the language, experienced the pandemic, the world changed, and etc..

I have come to realise the possibilities of life is so vast, things I could have never imaged, have happened in my life. I am sure at some point in your life, you have experienced this too.

Goals, resolutions, plans, strict schedules that we put so much time and emphasis on, is essentially just our limited imagination of an improved version of what we know. What about creating space for the things we do not know yet?

Yes, we all need goals and plans so that we know where we are heading towards, what we will do tomorrow, next week, next month and so on. However, it is more about knowing how to strike a balance between making plans to reach our goals and leaving possibilities about what we don’t know, to let life happen happen in a way that we could not imagine.

Here are three ways to help you strike a balance to make plans to reach your goals, yet still go with the flow :-

1. Schedule your flow

Put your tasks and plans to achieve your goals into your calendar but within that task or plan, make it your aim to enjoy the task itself without “forcing” yourself to achieve your desired outcome. This is called scheduled flow, a concept I found very practical to focus living in the present moment.

2. Move from impulsive behavior to conscious behavior

There are so many decisions in life we have made impulsively due to our habits or thoughts that have ingrained in our memory. This can lead us to do things on a whim or without thinking such as overeating, being in the relationships or jobs we hate, buying things we thought we need, and so on. So, how do we overcome impulsive behavior?

Raise our consciousness so that we are aware of our habits or patterns and make the conscious decisions to go about our plans while knowing that we are able to enjoy the present to allow flow. Practice mindfulness meditations – just five minutes a day can help raise your consciousness to a new level. Here‘s a quick an easy reference to get started.

3. Treat your 24-hour day like your 1 year

Why keep the best celebration only every new year’s eve? Why wait to change or make make resolution only at the beginning of the new calendar year? Today might be the last thing that we do. Memento Mori (explained more here by Ryan Holiday), one of the primary meditations of the ancient philosophy of Stoicism which means “remember you are mortal” serves as a good reminder that life is short and tomorrow is not guaranteed.

Never hold back, leave no stone unturned, focus on what is in front of us today and do whatever we choose to do today with full consciousness.

So, instead of putting so much pressure on our plans, always dream that life happens beyond our plan! Lets practice working towards our “goals” with a playfulness and a genuine curiosity, appreciating the learning and being in the present moment.

Happy New Year 2024!