Friday, November 09, 2007
Planning and Scheming
In this world full of obvious or implicit 'competition', I believe victory will always go to people who plan. In a more cynical tone, people who scheme.
I have this inspiration after doing my EC2373 essay, when you see how the meticulous planning of the PAP government back then in 1959 combated the problems of unemployment, inadequate housing and education and transform Singapore into what it is today.
Singapore had no right to survive. It has too small a domestic economy, it has too stupid a people (almost all low-skilled immigrants 'forced' out of the hometowns), and it has no natural resources to bank upon. Contrast this to the vast populations and lands of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia, they are the ones who should prosper, not us. But we know what happened =) The reason? Planning, planning and more planning.
For people who know football, look at Newcastle and Spurs. And look at Blackburn Rovers and Everton. You get the point =)
This bring my point to the power of planning. In studies, similarly, good grades will not go to the smartest people, but the most well-planned people. Granted, some people are inherently more clever, some more stupid, but planning does help you 'over-achieve'. As I've told Marcus, in studies it's not about fulfilling your potential, it's about 'over-achieving'. You might be stupid, but if you're good in planning, you can always achieve grades better than how 'smart' you supposedly are.
Perhaps, there are different levels of planning that lead to different results.
In studies, as mentioned above, I have some sort of planning.
"I attend my tutorials (to not miss any attendance marks), I TRY to attend all lectures (but I skipped quite a lot), I hand in my essays/assignments in time and do them proper, I study for my mid terms properly, I try to present in tutorials (I hate it but I have to do it) etc. " I.e. I do not compromise on anything that will directly or immediately affect my grades, but I tend to heck care when it comes to lectures and revision, where no marks are directly depended upon.
In studies, I can plan simply because grades are all artificial. It's not about judging how smart you are. It's simply about how well you do for the particular topics (hello you have only 13 weeks), tested in particular ways in particular percentages, set arbitrarily by a particular prof. Everything is mostly dependent on the game rules, and your grade is kinda at the mercy of your prof and tutors. It's just how you tune yourself to guess what the prof likes, instead of doing what you like and showing your intellect.
For me, I just try to do what I can, with little attention paid to this. Tianhao perhaps have the best planning, when he kinda gathered Dr Lee Soo Ann has a tendency in setting 'B' or 'C' in his MCQs. Hence in that 'teekum' 90 MCQs test of ours, he got the highest marks in the cohort! (Ok, to give credit to him, it's more than teekum, but you can't deny it helps =P ) Plus the fact that he foresees examinations topics and hence fine tune his studying strategy according to them, this kind of planning is what I can learn from, although I've still yet to do it.
Anyway, that's just my point about how the victory goes to people who plan and scheme.
Sadly, the same thing applies to people and relationships as well. In studies, I can plan and scheme, or I need to plan and scheme to play this 'game'. But towards people and relationships, I believe in truthfulness and sincerity. Hence, the abstinence from planning, from tactics, from scheming, from acting. But for some people, knowingly or unknowingly, planned or not planned, they schemed and know the exact way of behaviour to yield the response they want (consciously or subconsciously).
And sadly, in this form of implicit 'competition', these are the people who will come out victors as well. It's hard not to get affected. If only I could also know how to scheme and plan. But that's not me. I still believe being truthful to yourself is the most important thing in life. But sadly, sometimes, the best response only go to the people who scheme and plan. Perhaps when you're more bastardic, you can push your agenda through without caring how others feel, and ensure a swift and decisive victory.
So for me? I'll just remain true to what I am, behave the way I want to. Hopefully, one day, sincerity and truthfulness will win all schemes and plans, and the world will become a much more beautiful place =)
lowtide blogged @
10:10 am
