Beyond Spontaneity: Clarity and Structure

The older I get and the more responsibilities I have on my shoulders, the more I have to be more precise and thoughtful about my decisions and actions. It doesn't get easier by the day, per se, and that's yet another reason to "know what I am doing" as time passes.

You see, I am very much a spontaneous person in my everyday life. Creative chaos is very much how I do my things. From one task to another, I could buzz around. Having a particular structure set in place hasn't always been my thing. And it extends beyond my everyday life.

When the new year was imminent, I did not do what I would always do at the start of the year—make goals and resolutions. Why? Well, I had a bunch of things that I thought were realistic, simple, and achievable but didn't achieve them. I didn't want such to repeat itself, and so I thought to wait for the New Year FOMO to dissipate.

But hold up. I looked into my goals for the year and found something interesting. I had actually fulfilled many of those goals. It's just that some happened really late or were not completed last year, and the thought of those shortcomings made me feel like I had underachieved. In reality, I have actually achieved more than my eyes are seeing.

Having a structure and a definite and clear roadmap of how to progress is something different that I am trying this year. I have spent the last week going through major shifts, and they've had me a little off balance. Surely, it mustn't continue like that for long.

If I had had a crystal clear vision of how I wanted to progress last year, maybe—just maybe—it could have gone a whole lot better for me. I recognise that one may not always have the clear vision that I speak of.

Going about my things spontaneously every day does me a lot of good in its own way, but there are levels to it. There is a necessity to plan, strategize, and follow up on the way forward. Freestyling doesn't always cut it on some days.

Developing that structure to have a solid grip is what I am working on this period. Doing it bit by bit so it doesn't get overwhelming to work on.

An example would be putting all my responsibilities—or my roles and jobs—on one list. It was a more detailed type of list where I stated just what each responsibility entailed. And then put down the rewards from it, if there are any, and state if it's voluntary work or not. Somehow, that provides me with a good overview of how much of my attention is needed on certain things and, consequently, helps me plan my week ahead.

Alongside this new approach, I am researching the most effective ways to imbibe this culture for myself. And so I am hoping that the following week will be much different and that I will feel less in tune with my aspirations. Let's see how it goes.