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12 Nov 09 Even the best laid plans..
Video found via Wage Slave Rebel
When I was a kid, I was obsessed with the Roman Empire, I used to spend hours contemplating how Julius Caesar was a wuss, and how I would have conquered a larger part of the world in a shorter time.
Suffice to say, since then I’ve progressively dialed back my ambitions and in particular my plans - megalomania may be cute in a six year old, but it’s not quite as redeeming in a man reaching the twilight of his somewhat elastically defined youth.
Somewhere along the way, I realized that plans rarely work out and that’s actually ok. My life so far has been a string of mostly happy coincidences. I’ve had a number of key moments in my life, and they have all been thrown my way mostly by chance, the difference between them fading into obscurity and becoming key moments was simply the difference between action and inaction.
Business plans, career plans, life plans in all their glory, I don’t really need them. I’ll stick to just trying to do more of the things that make me happy, less of the things that make me unhappy, whatever they are at a given point in my life.
Ever written a business plan? Did the business develop according to plan? Success or failure, without knowing you, I’d probably say the answer is a definite “no”. Chances are even in a successful case that you weren’t even in the same business you thought you would be 2 years on. Ever had thoughts or plans of where you want to be at 25, 30, 40 or 50? Did they materialize that way? I’d say the answer is probably “no”.
To paraphrase John Lennon: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”.
So I’m done making plans. Business needs no plan. Happiness needs no plan. Life needs no plan. All you need is a backbone, some guiding principles and an action habit to seize the opportunities that drop in front of your nose and an ability to adapt to your current environment and circumstances.
And don’t ever forget, life is music. Not a journey, plan or goal. Enjoy it as much as you can while the music is playing.
