Do you have friends who, despite obvious signs they shouldn’t be doing something, do exactly that, and somehow, they always get away with it? Their life is sometimes disorganized chaos you wouldn’t and couldn’t find your way, but they get out of that mess untouched. Or at least unbothered. On the other side, you are carefully planning your steps, you are thinking very rationally and trying to keep realistic perspective.
I’ve worked with more than a fair share of clients who have carefully and methodically planned their careers. Investments of time, energy, money and other resources were meticulously calculated. Regardless if my clients were a part of a sports or business context, their story had logic and reason in the background and they were protected from disasters that happened to others. At least they believed so. In the same time, they weren’t protected from problems that came as a consequence of that very thinking.
All our lives we’ve been praised and encouraged to be deliberate and smart. To think well before we act. In general, that makes careful people out of us. And we have to carefully thread this hard life to prevent possible problems. And problems, you will agree with me, are abundant. The state and city you live in, the upbringing you have gone through, information in school, people around you, most everybody has convinced you, life is difficult and it required a lot of preparation in order to predict everyday chaos and restore order.
The attempt of controlling the unpredictable circumstances around you is really difficult. You sometimes succeed and your trouble is worthwhile, as much as it may cost. And the price is steep and it’s not expressed in money, but in time, emotions, worries and being nervous. It seems that trying to control all those variables around you, actually makes you feel like you have no control at all. Especially when something happens and you can’t change it the way like it – right here and now, no waiting. Well, at that moment, when the circumstances are really out of your control and when all your efforts can’t yield a result, then you really have a problem.
What would happen if you would face the idea that life is unpredictable? So unpredictable that whatever algorithm you apply, regardless of the effort you put in, no matter how many hours of sleep you turn into planning and how many things you have on your to do list, no matter what system you put into place, you will never really have control! And even when you succeed, the price you pay will outweigh the benefits. And the cycle of continuous worry and planning will continue without break or rest.
Remember that friend from the beginning. What can you learn from him? Can you accept, with all your unquestionable capacities, with your reason, intellect and various other abilities, that you the skill of being stupid?
Sometimes, and that is more often than you think, it is necessary to switch off all those conscious algorithms that calculate and analyze, and just let thing go with the flow. I know, you will think right away that is what sissies and lazy people do. The ones who can’t take control of their lives. Then think, after you do everything you can, wouldn’t you like to feel satisfaction? Wouldn’t you like to switch off your active mind and with confidence in what you’ve done so far, wait for results, doing something completely unrelated? Would you sometimes, and much more often than you think, use being at least a bit stupid?
