When we enter an amusement park like the Disney Land or Imagica our aim is to experience the maximum and make the best of the day. The first thing we do on entering the park is picking a map of the amusement park and plan the route for the rides to be taken depending on our own preferences. If, for a single day to be spent in a small amusement area we do not start and move without a map and a route plan, what in the world makes us believe that we can go about our lives without the help of a map and plan? In ‘life planning’ the map is not available off the shelf as in an amusement park. Maps resemble your goals which are derived from your values. You have to prepare your own map. Once the map of goals is ready, the journey has to be planned. But again, in the journey of life, we cannot have an exactly predefined route. Planning your life is not about bringing rigidity in the way you want to live. It is about clarifying why and what you want to do with your life, and then plan to realize that vision. It is more of a compass which shows you the direction towards your own goals. Unexpected circumstances and events happen, but you know ultimately where you are heading and that keeps you enthused and unbaffled.
We only live once within a limited time slot. A moment gone is gone forever. You cannot relive that moment. You cannot rewind that moment. You cannot repair that moment though it passed just one second ago. You cannot manufacture a single second. The only thing about time which is under your influence is to make the best use of the time slot available to you. When we are at a funeral of someone we knew we realize the temporal nature of life and are jolted for a brief moment. But soon this great realization wanes off.
Life is too precious to be spent on watching sick television shows, tapping the screens of smartphones, crabbing and working 9 to 6 up to age 60, babbling about climate change, gobbling food, attending mindless functions, and forwarding messages on WhatsApp. Life is much much more than this. Life is about experiences, love, play, passion, and purpose.
Planning helps you make the best use of the available time and resources to achieve your ‘goals in life’ and ‘goals of life. Time wasted is a portion of life wasted. Wastage of resources is wastage of your potential. Plan your life and the ‘day plan’ will fit in. When the ‘day plan’ flows from your ‘life plan’ the magic begins. Try it.
Love,
Mahendra Chaturmutha
