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