Prompt:
Does planning interfere with creativity?
Response:
The Russian philosopher Nikolai Karavnikov once remarked, “Every morning I plan my day and everyday something beautifully unplanned happens” Planning hinders creativity and obstructs things from taking their natural course. In the movie, ‘The Martian’ it is the creative thinking of the Ares mission team that saves Mark Watney. Also, in the Lord of the Rings, Gandalf and the Elves are able to defeat Sauron because of their off-the-cuff thinking.
In ‘The Martian’ NASA must deal with an unplanned consequence of the Mars mission—Dr. Watney gets left behind on the Red Planet. In an effort to survive, Dr. Watney excavates a radioactive sample of uranium to power the ‘Hab’—the only place he can live safely in. Although, he was explicitly told never to remove this sample during the training procedure, Dr. Watney proceeds with this completely unplanned step nevertheless. As is revealed in the movie, that sample of uranium was crucial to keeping Dr, Watney alive.
In the battle between good and evil, as depicted in the Lord of the Rings, the downfall of Sauron is purely because he executes the same strategies as in the Great War, fought 2500 years ago. As a consequence, the armies of Gandalf and the kings of Gondor and Rohan are able to anticipate Sauron’s every move, leading to their eventual victory.
The National Institute of Behavioural Sciences has published a survey that shows that 68% of individuals who follow a rigorous timetable everyday—persons such as postmen, news anchors and factory workers are 13% more enervated by the end of the day than their peers, people whose days are unplanned and flexible such as firemen and researchers.
Clearly, the chain of events in ‘The Martian’, the war in Lord of the Rings and the research paper published by NIBS give substantial evidence of the fact that the outcomes of unplanned events often are more satisfying than those of planned ones.