Life on a schedule

This is something odd I've noticed recently. For whatever reason, people think more and more that life runs on a schedule, that you need to do some things or wait some period of time for conditions to be perfect before starting the next step. It's a very regimented way to look at life, probably because we spend so much time in academia where we're forced to run to timetables, where one step or course or module has to be completed before going to the next step. Maybe it's because of what society or tradition dictates and expects from us. This dictation doesn't always come from the past, it can even be the young people thinking that their 'new, better and enlightened way' is right for everyone.

Life isn't like this though, not in my limited experience anyway. You should just grab whatever opportunities come along, even if they seem too big or way beyond your abilities. How do you know unless you try? Even if you fail, you grow as a person and if you grow it's not a failure. Two steps forward, one step back, you've still moved forward.

One attitude that annoys me is planning out in meticulous detail how things will be done, what will be said and then waiting for conditions to meet your plan. Planning is definitely required, but certain details don't need planning, especially conditions you have no control over, like what other people do. You certainly have to write down what you want to do, and work out how to get there, and if you can, alternate ways to get to what you want. It should not be a step-by-step manual of what to do. It should be a general guide, like a map. Maps give you an idea of where you want to go. However, until you get out there you just don’t know what you’ll encounter, no matter how detailed the map is.

The most annoying trait however is waiting x amount of time and just going through the motions, believing the quantity of time set out is enough. Time in itself does nothing, it is always what you do with that time. Use time to prepare for the opportunity you seek, and when it comes grab it. If opportunity doesn't come, do what you can to create it for yourself. This is especially important in the workplace. You don’t become CEO by just being there, neither do you find out someone is your soul mate by just being together for some time.

We should still have respect for the traditions and culture of our forefathers. Our world though, is not the same as theirs. In the last 100 years there have been dramatic changes in the world. My youngest sister is only 9 years my junior, yet it seems I went to school in another century. I had to go to the library, pull books from shelves and write out reports. She uses the internet, types out and then prints her reports. And she doesn't even need to leave her room!

I respect my friends and their opinions too. Despite all this respect, I refuse to let people, either through opinion or appeal to tradition, force me to do what I don’t want to, or what they would have me do instead. I have to live with the consequence of the choices I make, not them. I will seek advice, but if I decide not to take it, they should respect that.

It’s why I admire people like Bruce Lee and Muhammad Ali. Not because they were great sportsmen, mostly for their life philosophy.

“When there is freedom from mechanical conditioning, there is simplicity. The classical man is just a bundle of routine, ideas and tradition. If you follow the classical pattern, you are understanding the routine, the tradition, the shadow - you are not understanding yourself.” ~ Bruce Lee

We should certainly do this with the big decisions in life and be a little ‘selfish’. We also shouldn’t do the opposite of what people advise just because someone said we should. If it’s good advice, take it.

In the end, we have to live our own lives, not our family’s lives or our friend’s lives. Our own. At the same time, don’t dictate others what to do too. I don’t believe in following tradition because “that’s the way it’s always been and will always be”, yet if someone wants to live like that, I’m with it too. It’s not the way I’d choose to live, but it’s not my life now is it?

Live and let live and seize the day, as they say.