Lessons from the Little Prince

how many of you had this event planned

on your calendars

i did too planning is one of the habits

of happy people

and the key to the successful future

right

that’s until you cross the line between

planning

and over planning the majority of us

have a very responsible approach to life

or everything that we do

every work day is planned by minutes and

measured by completed tasks

every weekends with the family and every

meeting with the colleagues is scheduled

weeks

ahead a trip cannot go well without

numerous packing checklists and

beforehand reservations

planning is everything it’s a base of a

successful workday of a safe trip of

career development

and relationship building we want to

make sure to live the following day

month or a year with a limited number of

unpredictable situations and problems

truly believing that this will allow us

to become the happiest person

who at the end of his life realized and

fulfilled his purpose

but it doesn’t happen

i think many of you have seen the movie

based on a well-known book by anthony

the saint exupery the little prince

which focuses on significant life

lessons and powerful ideas

that are not included only in the book

itself

but it also reveals some new ones

let us remember one thing a mother fixes

on the wall of her daughter

a huge pin board and exclaims

i call it a life plan we’re not leaving

anything to a chance

everything is here oriented top to

bottom left to right

sounds familiar isn’t it maybe not

as critical but we all have this

idolized plan either in our heads or on

paper where we have

everything sorted out starting from the

working career

finishing with the places to visit or

goals to accomplish by turning 25 30 or

50 years old but they do not bring us as

much joy and excitement

as if we accomplish them unexpectedly

relying on our own experience and

feelings rather than

detailed prepared strategies

i’m not saying that planning is wrong

rather that

over planning and creating a life plan

can destroy the best possible

experiences

that life itself can bring us

today i want you to imagine your life

being a road

and you being travelers or explorers

who takes this road so everyone starts

their life path at one exact point

and eventually begins to chase one

another along the way

people tend to plan every stage of their

life that is significant to them

and to set some age deadlines according

to social norms

for example have you ever had this

thought that would be nice to get

married by turning 25

or to become a marketing director by 40

we usually await that others will act

and leave according to some expectations

depending on their age and sex and

therefore we unconsciously alter

our initial desires and make decisions

depending on those social norms as those

are universal

and make us feel guilty if we do not

accomplish those psychologists luke

chang and alan samfy

mention a compelling fact in their

research work

that social norms dictate social

environment

and have more substantial influence on

our initial desires

than the morality rate what it means

is then when you make a choice between

two different alternatives

you usually make the one that the

society wants you to do

and consequently you will feel like your

head in the race

we’re competing against one another in

those age deadlines in order to reach

the finish line first

and say i am the winner i have realized

and fulfilled my purpose

and understood the sense of life but it

on the contrary ruins the sense of life

as we are losing the understanding of

reality

sometimes we even rush to make our

decisions in order to make sure that we

did those decisions according to this

expectation or social norm however it is

okay

it to graduate university not at the age

of 25

but at the age of 40. it is also

fantastic when you find your dream job

not

right after your grade 8 but in 10 or 20

years

to get married at 50 or not to get

married at all

life brings us different opportunities

and gives us

different life turns on purpose and we

should take advantage of those

not only the ones that help us to

accomplish our initial plan

because life is not a race it’s a

journey

what should scare you even more now is

the fact

that future never comes

we always live in present

in some cases over over planning even

becomes a new form of procrastination as

we are constantly thinking

and planning instead of acting we’re too

much focused on our future plans or

unachievable goals that we forget to

live here

and now on every turn of the journey

which goes through the beautiful road

called life

we tend to estimate and prepare for each

of our next speed ups and slow downs and

steps

in order to have the safest and the

fastest route

however we’re not enjoying the road trip

itself

some psychologists recommend to take a

glance at your life

from an outside perspective in other

words to notice people who go with you

in the car or that want to leave it

to take a look at the scenery which is

changing with every minute

to listen to your feelings and to think

deeply by not speeding up

or slowing down but going with a speed

that is comfortable for you

the perception of moment will expand

only unexpected sceneries unplanned

turns a new destination will remain in

your memory

and overshadow the initial goal of

understanding the sense of life

the point is not to reach the finish

where you think the unknown

will be revealed but to live through

every moment

and not to make it a planned journey

your willingness to adopt some changes

due to some unexpected interruptions

is the first step to experience less

stress

elizabeth grayth an expert on effective

time management states that the idea

of planning is to create the set of

goals and objectives

as well as to understand the direction

of moving along the road to achieve

those goals

however when you cross the line between

planning

and over planning those goals turn into

step-by-step instructions

in reality none of them works because we

don’t know which challenges may

wait for us at the end of the way

therefore instead of

adjusting the direction of moving along

the road

people tend to experience massive stress

as we need to rewrite each step in this

instruction

we cannot be prepared and control the

unexpected circumstances

but we can control our attitudes towards

them

i’m wondering how many of you had at

least one of your plans during this past

year

ruined due to pandemic because i can

relate

i was planning to finish my erasmus

exchange period by the end of june and

by

that time to visit at least five

different countries and make new

connections with people

on march 15th i was already sitting on

self-isolation in ukraine

thinking why my life is so unfair

however only now i realize how lucky i

was to spend half of the year

near my close family and friends

adjusting to this new lifestyle together

and traveling around my home country

therefore

i reached the initial goal of seeing new

places meeting new people

and trying a new system of studies but

in slightly different way

we cannot be prepared for any situation

that may arise along the way because

we don’t know what next day will bring

us but we should be prepared to face new

challenges

and take spontaneous decisions in order

to reach this final goal

by taking an alternative road

the point is to live through every

negative

and positive unplanned life experience

which opens new perspective on the world

and develops our personalities

it consequently develops practical

intelligence which is the knowledge that

we cannot get from the books or by

learning

rather than by experiencing real-life

situations

in the long-term perspective practical

knowledge is more important than

theoretical knowledge as every situation

requires your ability to ingest

instead of using step-by-step

instructions

if you watch the little prince till the

end you probably remember that the life

plan was destroyed by a toy plane

which symbolizes denial of money

mechanical

and monotonous way of living and a

necessity of planning every minute of

your life

planning is great as it gives you the

idea of your final goal

and the direction of movement but when

it becomes over planning it limits those

crucial experiences

that’s supposed to bring us joy

knowledge

and enjoyment of the trip on the road

called

life thank you

you