Hypermetropia : A vision condition in which nearby objects are blurry.
Myopia: A vision condition in which far objects are blurry.
I distinctly remember, back in school days, I never used to count number of days before examinations. I had this passive attitude of start studying only when I could see exams happening two days later. Thinking about how much time I had to prepare always felt uncomfortable to me. So I never really did it.
In my college days, I started going to gym 6 days a week. I used to train legs, arms, back, chest and everything, everyday for a lot of time. The goal was to use each and every ounce of energy I had. I wanted to gain and gain it quickly.
Now when I look back and think, a lot of things could have been easier if I would have corrected these defects in my thinking (hindsight bias maybe🤔).
So what were these defects? And why I am calling them defects all together? Let’s dig in!
Hypermetropic approach
We all like to plan. We use mobile applications to make a to-do list, attend career counselling sessions(presided by peers) and what not. It gives us this pleasure to visualize our future with certainty, at least in theory. We feel happy about it and think that we are in charge. We aim to plan extremely well as if our life depends on it, maybe it does sometimes. But all of us, strive to find the perfect plan, no matter whatever it takes(Click!).
Planning is cool but there is a lot that has to follow a perfectly laid out plan. I always knew what all syllabus I needed to do for the exams and how easy it was only if I would have computed the work I needed to do everyday. It was so tempting to overexert instead of carefully and comfortably pacing myself. Often, we forgot that the goal we set is basically composed of small checkpoints that can help us keeping its monstrosity in check. It is just like climbing Mt. Everest, you can’t just relax for a day and hope to cover the distance on some other day. Decisions like these ensure that you never reach the summit.
One way to avoid such a miserable fate is to become penny wise (Click!). It simply means that, we pay attention to how we spend our days, hours, minutes and seconds. No matter how perfect your goal is, if you can’t make a steady pace towards it, you are probably not going to get it. Being aware of these minuscule opportunities throughout the journey can go a long way in tackling contingency factors as well. Just think about it like a cricket score board, the batsman can change her style as per the target and situation. Keeping the track is a good way to know when it is okay to leave some balls and when it is just essential to hit the boundaries.
Myopic approach
If I ask you to run a 100 meters race, you will probably sprint. On the contrary, if I ask you to run a 10 km marathon you won’t. Why? Maybe because you realize the difference between power and endurance. You can have all the power in the world but if you can’t pace yourself properly you can’t win a marathon.
We rely on small packets of motivation to stand up and run for our goals. Sometimes we get them and we sprint beautifully. But sadly, if you are relying too much on this drug called motivation, you might never make it to the finish line when it comes to your most ambitious aspirations. Anything substantial is valuable because of the difficulty there is to achieve it. The exclusive it is, the harder it gets to reach there. And if you plan to use motivation filled sprints to get there, you are going to burn out soon. Just like training 6 days a week without a proper plan is a good way to overexert yourself in the gym.
The idea is to sprint whenever you can but to jog other times. To replace motivation with discipline. Desperation with patience. Often we make a mistake to think that the entire fight is about hitting the hardest. Most of the times, it is simply about showing up. You don’t have to die everyday but you need to prepare of it daily.
Seeing clearly
So planning alone can’t get your things done. Also proceeding randomly and emotionally without a proper strategy would also prove to be futile. Therefore is becomes pretty clear that we can’t move forward with either of these extremes and have to strike a middle ground.
The thumb rule is supplement your plans with suitable micro plans. To remain accountable on the entire journey and stop persisting in the denial. At times, we don’t track our progress and worsen our situation just to avoid the guilt of wasted time. Don’t do it. So hasten your pace or dawdle it down, just show up everyday. Try avoid driving in an auto pilot mode for extended periods of time and you will reach the summit, if not immediately then eventually. Remember that,
Rome was not built in a day but it was built everyday!