Life has a tendency to throw us curve balls that we don’t see coming. Or to put it another way “the best-laid plans of mice and men oft go astray”. Some people believe that any failure when it comes to life plans is due to a failure on the individuals part to properly plan. I choose to believe that it is impossible to plan for everything and that life has it’s own plan. In order to deal with the fact that you can’t anticipate every outcome, it is important that we set out goals and plans in plastic rather than glass or stone.
This planning process is particularly important when you are attending University and you discover that you are better than you expected at some things and not as good as you expected at others. That said, this discovery process continues through your entire life if you continue to learn new things. A plastic plan can morph into a slightly different version of the original plan, where a plan cast in stone tends to explode into pieces that can’t be put back together.
WTF are you talking about Fred ?…. Well lets say that you really want to be an auto mechanic because you love everything about cars. You buy a vintage car and you start taking things apart, cleaning and replace parts. A month into the job you realize that this is so much like work that you don’t enjoy it any longer. Or perhaps you realize that you don’t have the motor skills to do the fine work. Now your money tied up in a car that lies in pieces on your garage floor and you either don’t have the knowledge or desire to put it back together.
This does to not mean that you’ve failed, just that life has another plan. You could always find a local kid from a high school auto mechanics program and pay him to finish the car. He would be doing something he really loves, making some money and you get the car you wanted. It may be a one time thing, or you may forge a partnership where he builds the cars and you drive them.
There is almost always another way to get what you want that will improve the life of others. If you can’t see which way to bend your plan then perhaps you are too close to the problem. Sometimes you have to rely on others close to you to point out that you are not having fun because the desire to reach the end goal often clouds your vision. Life is too short to spend time on things that we don’t enjoy. Seek help from others so that you can bend your plans in a positive way.
I plan to experiment and learn as long as life permits.