Life is unpredictable. The only thing we can be sure of is that it will change. Sounds boring and cliche? Yes, of course. However, we still aren't very good at accepting changes when they appear. Instead, we almost always freak out and think, "Oh no, another change? Again? Can we have a normal day yet?"

The stoic philosophy believes that what you propose, life disposes. In other words, you should have plans but be flexible with their execution. It teaches us to be prepared for anything life throws our way. This philosophy can be applied to many areas of your life, from your career to your relationships.

It may seem counterintuitive initially, but it makes a lot of sense. If we rigidly cling to our plans, we will be blindsided when things don't go as expected. However, if we are flexible and adaptable, we can roll with the punches and cope with whatever life throws.

So next time you feel stressed or anxious, remember the stoic way of planning and flexibility. It could just be the thing that gets you through tough times. It doesn't mean that you can't enjoy life, but it does mean that you must be ready for whatever comes your way. Being stoic doesn't mean being emotionless and 100% rational; it just means being prepared for anything.

One critical tenet of stoicism is living in harmony with nature accepting whatever happens, good or bad, and not resisting it. Instead, we should flow with events and make the best of them. By doing so, we can avoid a lot of unnecessary suffering. For example, our feeling about an event (good or bad) equals the event plus thoughts about it. So, we fill neutral things with emotions. If we let the negative self-talk take control, we will see most events as overwhelming, unfair or extremely hard.

Of course, this doesn't mean we shouldn't plan for things or strive to achieve our goals. We still need to put in the effort and do our best. But we should also be prepared for the possibility that things may not go as we hoped. The stoic philosophy can help us to lead happier and more fulfilling lives by teaching us to accept what is out of our control and focus on what is within our power.

The planning fallacy is the tendency to underestimate the time, cost, and effort required to complete a task. This is often due to our overconfidence in our abilities. The stoics teach us to be more realistic in our planning by considering the potential for setbacks and Murphy's Law (anything that can go wrong will go wrong). By doing so, we can avoid disappointment and frustration.

Parkinson's law states that "work expands to fill the time available for completion". In other words, if you have a two-hour window to complete a task, it will take two hours; if you have an eight-hour window to achieve the same job, it will also take eight hours. The key is that we often mistakenly believe we need more time than we do. We think we could finish the task if we just had another hour, day, or week. But in reality, this is rarely the case.

Combine the above elements into a formula. Then, when you create a plan, consider the following points:

• First, be ambitious instead of conservative with deadlines. It will motivate creativity.

• Break the goal into atomic chunks to set a deadline and estimate their effort requirement. Then, focus on delivering the small parts and remain tactical in execution while keeping the strategy in front of you.

• Build frequent checkpoints into the timeline to ensure you can adapt to changes immediately.

• However, do not accept all the changes and priorities that don’t bring you closer to your goal.

Use the stoic approach and plan for changes from the first second. Ask yourself: What if everything changes frequently and significantly? Don't try to plan things over but train yourself for all the possible options. And life will still have surprises for you.

If you want to learn more about stoicism, I recommend reading The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday. It's a great introduction to this philosophy and its application to modern life.