How can we better execute our plans?
Answer Podcast
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, when we make schedules, sometimes we are able to implement only partially. So, how can we become more focused in doing what we intend to do? See, first thing is to try to micro plan our life is to set ourselves up for frustration.
Because there are always things that happen in life which are beyond our planning, beyond our control, beyond our expectation. So, we need to understand the difference between plans and planning. Plans may not work, but planning works.
Planning gives us a general sense of direction where I should be going in my life. Okay, I have my studies, I have my exercise, I have my this, this, this. So, we decide in these areas of my life, I have to do these, these things.
That’s planning. So, planning is more like having a compass for knowing where we need to go. Plans is more like a clock.
Okay, I’ll do this at this time, this at this time, this at this time. So, quite often because of the contingencies of life, plans may not work. So, we often go to two extremes.
One extreme is I want to micro plan every detail of my life. This time I’ll do this, this time I’ll do this, this time I’ll do this. But life just doesn’t work like that.
So, sometimes our friends may be really needing something from us and we may have to suspend our plan. If we don’t suspend the plan at that time, we may hurt that relationship, we may hurt that friend. Now, of course, we cannot.
So, what happens? One extreme is when we try to micromanage our life, we become frustrated because we cannot do that. But when our plans don’t work, we go to the other extreme and think, nothing works, I’ll not plan anything. And we don’t plan anything, then we just leave ourselves at the mercy of the world.
Somebody comes, let’s go here, we go there. Let’s do that, we do that. And then we have no direction at all in our life.
So, that’s why what we should focus on is, not so much the micro-planning of our life, but the macro-planning. Macro-planning means that have the sense, okay, in this week, I have to do these things. I have to, these are the areas in which I live, I have to do these things.
So, if you plan like that, then that planning will give us a sense of direction. Sometimes, you know, one area of our life may consume more time. But, and it may be required at that time to give more time to that area.
But, if we have, okay, I have done, I spent this much time here, now I should spend some time here. We’ll be able to balance ourselves. So, by having, by focusing more on planning than on plans, that means focusing more on the direction in which we want to go, rather than the specific steps that we will take in going towards each direction.
Yes, we can have specific steps also, but we don’t have to obsess on them. If they don’t work, that’s okay. That’s the first point.
Focus on planning more than specific plans. And second point is that when the plans don’t work, we can, not at that moment, because that time we may just be consumed by frustration, this didn’t work. But, maybe at the end of a week, we look back at ourselves.
And then, okay, why did this work? Sometimes, we may find that we are just trying to do too many things in too little time. It’s like sometimes when people want to go for travelling, you know, they want to take their whole house inside their suitcase. That just can’t be done.
So, sometimes we try to cram too many things in 24 hours, it won’t work. So, we can observe, okay, this is not going to work. So, maybe I need to cut some things down.
Or sometimes we find, hey, when this thing happened, I didn’t have done that. So, especially for learning like this, for observing ourselves and learning ourselves, if we have allocated time for developing our spiritual side, then this objectivity looking at ourselves, we will develop that much more. And then, we will be able to utilize our time much much better.
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