Two Extremes to Avoid
You need to realize it
Living a disciplined life or going with the flow had been a matter of discussion for a long time. These are two major approaches people have in their lives, all the other ways of living can be classified in these two categories.
Both have their pros and cons but what exactly is the right way to live, a well-disciplined life can help you with your productivity and efficiency but at the same time, you’ll see the ones who aren’t too planned are more fun living and resilient in facing failures.
An uncle of mine had lived an overly disciplined life with an exact budget to spend and everything went with the plans. He used to have a tiffin box when he went with colleagues during vacation and never tried drinks and smoked in his whole life of 40 years. He doesn’t drink cooled drinks and has fast foods or casual snacks, for him living an ideally healthy life is of utmost priority.
Sounds boring and useful at the same time isn’t it? At this point, it’s still relevant and if you can you may go to live that way, it’ll do you a lot of benefits and will save you time dealing with too much hustle. Things go wrong when you start to cross the limit; my uncle developed a tendency to be a hero in others' eyes, he unwillingly started to give more priority to being perceived as an ideal person rather than being disciplined for the sake of his productivity.
People started to use him as an ideal person who is responsible for the completion of projects, he is the one who takes responsibility for meeting the deadlines, he is the one who guides others and he is the one who’s going to help when other people need him. His colleagues started to dump their leftover work on him, he even doesn’t manage to make time for a genuine weekend get-together.
Now “go with the flow” people may seem exciting to you, they are perceived as ambiguous, uncontrolled, and chaotic guys but they are a bit different. They are more resilient in facing setbacks and managing to complete the work at the rush of the last minute. These are the guys who are aware of various strategies and tactics that can be useful during last-minute rush, they use different approaches to get things done.
Research has found that people who are spontaneous and tackle challenges when they appear are more creative in solving them. They are the ones who accidentally invented some of the greatest inventions we use in our daily lives. Their critical thinking skills are also higher than those who rely on schedules and protocols.
This way of life is not an advisable philosophy if it crosses the limit; if someone is too spontaneous and unambiguous he is perceived as an unreliable person by others. People don’t give important tasks or include them in crucial events that require a responsible man.
Deep down we know the world is functioning well because of some responsible and disciplined leaders. We can reach our examination hall because that bus driver is responsible and disciplined, he knows that a lot of people are dependent on him, and he values other's trust in him to arrive exactly at the right time and at the right place.
The place where you should aspire to be is somewhere in between these two extremes, you shouldn’t be too rigidly disciplined that people start to find you as a difficult person to be with, or a person who puts all irrelevant burdens on his shoulders, and at the same time you shouldn’t be a spontaneous unreliable piece of mess on which even your parents aren’t considering to be trustworthy.
You need to be disciplined when you have a crucial task in your hands, and you need to come out as a reliable person when time demands you to be but at the same time, you need to be creative and open-minded too. You need to appreciate uncertainty for good and bad things too, you should develop a balance in both.
The idea behind living with such an attitude is “doing the thing that should be done at that time”, if it’s a time when you are required to stick to a schedule you are doing with as if you are the most disciplined person on this planet and when it’s time to take things lightly you aren’t too obsessed to take control but just flowing with what life is offering to you.
Thanks for reading!
Do share what you think about the same!
Follow “Word Garden” Publication to read such articles from writers around the world
Want to start writing online and have no clue where to start? I’ve got your back
Want to support my work? Buy me a coffee
