letting go of planning

this has been the year in which I’ve let go of plans, and have tried — in both art and life and work — to live moment to moment, as much possible. I used to plan like it was a hobby, when really, it was a coping mechanism to deal with the anxiety of the unknown; the darkness of this journey — and so I set benchmarks and goals and made target metrics for myself so that I could live with the illusion of having-it-together, of being focused and comforted by the fact of if I just do X, then one day I will have Y.

the paradox here is that once I let go of plans and planning, I “accomplished / did” far more than I would have if I had stuck to my plans. things came together without me needing to micro-manage them. I simply did things, rather than obsessing and over-thinking them.

I want to emphasize that the no-plans life is not without clarity, focus, or intention.

here are my summarized notes on what I’ve learned:

• instead of making plans, set clear intentions. listen to where the urge to plan comes from — usually, from the energy of anxiety, and the fear of uncertainty. intentions come from rooted place deep within. set intentions, and then let go of the exact “how”

• discern between the thinking mind and the feeling-sensing intuition. the mind needs plans, while the intuition knows only the feeling in the here-now. flow happens when you follow that feeling.

• create daily practices to build structure — find daily practices that feel good, and allow the no-plan life to unfold freely in the safety of those structures. this applies to everything: building a business, making art, wellbeing and health, personal growth, or learning a language.

when I plan, my mind is going in circles. when I set intentions and follow practices, I just do — and I allow myself to follow feelings of spontaneity and inspiration and flow in that doing, which is really — just being.