Some of the readers of this blog put up with my ridiculous attempts at humour just so they can read posts like this. I don’t avoid serious topics here, and if something bothers me enough, I’ll kick an idea around for a week or two and eventually handle something with a bit of depth. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t think a philosophy student would find my musings all that inventive. I’m no slouch at writing, but the ideas themselves? They’re actually rather pedestrian.
I’ve got the rest of my life, no matter how long that’ll be, to come up with an original thought or two. Why hurry? There’s plenty going on, and I’d like to see what I can see. As I’ve discussed at some length recently, this has been a rather difficult time in my personal life. It’s not like anything’s surmountable. I’m surmounting quite well, indeed. Yet there has been a bit of Sturm und Drang, as it were, and I’m luckily on the other side of all of that.
What wisdom might I pass onto you, my loyal reader, upon safely making it through the fire? Like Daniel and the proverbial lion’s den, I’ve survived. What could I possibly have to say that you haven’t already figured out along the way.
Well, it’s about planning. Meticulous plans are all the rage when doing something such as founding a company. If you want to get out of a burning building, you might think carefully before you just start charging for the exits. Please don’t think I’m second-guessing your abilities to expeditiously vacate a structure in flames. From what little I know about you, it’s something I’m confidant you can manage.
So, it seems careful plans are advantageous, but let’s not forget improvisation. Let’s leave a bit of room for manoeuvering, why don’t we. However, I want to talk about something a bit more esoteric. Like I say, I sometimes go a bit off the reservation. If you come with me for just a bit, I think you might be glad you did.
In my life in general, and over the last few months in particular, I’ve noticed that the detailed planning is really quite essential to my success, but it’s not enough. In the process of following my circumscribed steps, something quite exquisite happens. Not sometimes. Not often. Every single time.
At some point in the follow through of the plan, often when the plan’s flaws are becoming evident to everyone involved, a curious thing happens. Once again, this is bordering on the esoteric, so have a bit of patience with me, yeah?
It’s as if a door opens. You can keep on with your little machinations. No-one’s stopping you, after all. The thing is: if you walk through the door, you get something you’d never dreamed of. You can’t take your plans with you either.
Going through the door makes the meticulous plans moot. You can certainly take a copy of the plans, and perhaps you’d like one for your records or to include in your scrapbook. Your now obsolete plans that had to be discarded could make a fantastic piece of artwork to be displayed. I know because sometimes I plaster mine on the wall. As if they were in a trophy case.
What can I say? Make your plans. Be detailed. Prepare for every eventuality. But when it really matters, go through the door. It’ll open – I know because I’ve seen it so many times. Walk through the door. You’ll be glad you did.
Shh, don’t tell the internet, because then they’ll all be asking you for ADVICE and wanting you for THINGS and such, but you’re a very wise man, my bon vivanty friend.
I feel like the inside of your head is one of those old-fashioned apothecary chests. You know those, right? I am fascinated by those. And some days you open the drawer with all the whimsy, and some days you open the drawer with all the deep thinking, and some days you open the drawer with all the sadness, but there are endless drawers full of endless things and the fun is no one ever knows what’s coming out of what drawer that day. I like that very much.