How to (not) take over the world, make a plan to take over the world

Another friend once again tried to start a new life and take over the world. There was an organizer in the new life, a couple of volumes of the series “How to achieve anything without getting up from the couch”, a clearly detailed plan for the five-year plan ahead, and a firm, unbending confidence that this time everything will turn out. In confidence, in motivation, he assured, having tasted the fruits of theoretical thought, the dog itself was buried. After a month, however, it became apparent that the old life was no different from the new. On the fourth day, good intentions evaporated somewhere, in the second week the organizer was lost. Since then, the acquaintance has been in the confidence that all there planning, motivation, achievement of goals is all beautiful, written for the gullible, spreading garbage. Only one thing confuses - approximately in the same expressions a monkey in a famous fable was talking about glasses.

Is planning really working or not working?

Planning is good because it brings peace to the soul. If you keep in your head a lot of unfixed items, the full picture will never work out. In addition, this mass takes someone else's place - in the sense that as long as it is occupied no update takes place. Therefore, it is very, very useful to take a piece of paper, write down everything accumulated in your head and free up RAM. This, by the way, is written by Barbara Sher in the book “I refuse to choose!”: If it seems to you that you have a million plans and do not cover everything, write down and count. Surely there is not a million, but some quite obvious amount. It is just the chaos of unfixed thoughts that creates a picture in which the immensity cannot be grasped. So, initially it turns out that planning is good. But why do so many things end there?
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The first reason : to plan so well that it brings deep moral satisfaction. In general, we all somehow strive to ensure that our soul was cool. Planning is a quick and easy way to get it. You spent a few hours, tired - and you have the feeling that you did a great job. A new life begins, it is clearly visible. You are already acting. Although not really acting. To the desired you have not moved yet a single step. But the sweet hypnosis of a well-laid plan suggests to you that you are striving for a goal at full steam. Sweet hypnosis is not enough for long. At some point, the dose ends, and with it comes the confusion - how is it still not at the goal? Right, not the goal? That is because ... And the Beautiful Plan replenishes the collection of the Failed Beautiful Plans. It doesn't even matter whether it is unrealizable or quite realistic.

The second reason : non-existent. You wrote everything correctly, but it has nothing to do with your reality. As there was no time for the gym, and was not. As there was no desire to make an effort, it did not appear. This is a variant of the first cause, only hangover comes faster. The plan becomes a burden, and as we strive to not “in the burden,” but “cool”, it dies off by itself. And now you are wondering what happened to him and where he went. He was so well written.

Reason three : decomposition. This item is called the most useful when planning, and he, in fact, the hidden killer. What is decomposition? We take a big task and break into smaller pieces. Those - on even smaller. Then again, until you get a list of simple and clear steps. Some advise to go from start to finish. Some - on the contrary - from the end to the beginning. Nobody suggests writing variable decompositions with complex “if-then” blocks, because it is clear that then you will dig to death and you will never finish your plan. But this is the main catch. Admit it, if the goal was so simple that it is possible to write down all its sub-items on a piece of paper, then, in general, this is not a plan, this check-list went and made. And in difficult cases, when you still have a vague idea of ​​the goal, you have no idea what it will consist of. What will you write? From the ceiling? Out of my head? The more approximate your understanding, the more harmful it is to do its decomposition. There is another catch: you begin to appreciate the time invested. You tried, puffed, wrote a grand detailed plan. And then the point on the second things went wrong. If your cunning plan did not suggest variability and plan B for each subparagraph - it is very unlikely that you will have the moral strength to do all the same work once again for new circumstances. "Everything went wrong," - you think - and burn out to the fucking grandmother.

Speaking of "burn out" ...

Reason Four : Motivation. Planning euphoria also creates additional motivation. And this is a subconscious reinforcement of a completely different postulate: “To do something, you need motivation. Without motivation - nowhere at all. ”And now, instead of doing something, you are looking for motivation. Planning and searching for motivation are two things that can be done endlessly, it brings a deep moral satisfaction at a zero or almost zero result. Both of them - it is anesthesia, under which a person moves towards the goal. As soon as there are none, a person starts looking for anesthesia. And it never even comes to mind that it is possible without anesthesia. And that is normal in nature, no anesthesia, no. There is another thing that is similar to motivation, when you “caught the wave” and it carries you forward, but this is the lot of those who have swum deeply enough by themselves.

If, on the other hand, it is not possible to swim independently, then here are a few general considerations on the “safety precautions” regarding the handling of a tool called “planning”:

1. Plan quickly, plan ahead. To hell with multi-volumes, to hell with well-thought-out plans, it’s enough to work on waste production. Reduce the importance of planning in your eyes, increase the importance of business. The tool has a place on the shelf with tools - there is nothing to put it at the forefront.

2. Swung to the impossible? Laroshfuko said that there are few unattainable goals, there are goals, ways of achieving which are hard to come up with. Invent, organize a brainstorm, go around where not to get through. Read the biographies of Jobs, Branson and others who could / can cook porridge from an ax and come up with workarounds. Just decide for yourself, finally - whether you need it or not. We must - act. Do not - do not fool yourself.

3. Do you have the most vague ideas about how to achieve your goal? Do not wait for enlightenment, and then you will grow old. Sketch milestones that you know for sure. And separately - think about what you can do right now. Surely there is something simple and understandable that can be done in the most foreseeable time. Just keep in mind that your plan includes a solid share of uncertainty. Write on the next steps when they are clear. In the end, Columbus discovered America, thinking that he was heading for India.

4. Not enough motivation? To hell with motivation. No beautiful and “motivated” mood is kept 24/7. You're not going to give up every time your mood goes down? Look at the points of your plan critically: do you really need a special mood, special weather, a special position of stars in the sky? If not, don't wait for them. Stock up on stubbornness - and go point by point right now.

5. One head is good, but two is better! Do not cook in your own juice, if your willpower is not enough. A goal set publicly on a service such as SmartProgress not only disciplines to report on it - there are certainly users who have encountered similar problems, they can tell if the “eye is blurred” and give a life-giving kick if you are stuck. You can even argue for money that your goal will be achieved - if you are motivated to "beat the mortgage." Go for it! The unattainable is not enough, and you too will surely take over the world.

Just promise to treat him carefully.

SmartProgress - achieving goals

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