Illusion of control

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Azra Nisar

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Most of us use high frequency English words to either understand a concept or to ignore it. One of the frequently used words these days is illusion. Which we have been using in our talks even without knowing its essence and actual meaning. Illusion means ‘a false belief or idea’ which can also be understood in terms of hallucination and delusion. So, collectively illusion of control deals with the false idea that we hold the supremacy of controlling everything around us.

Let’s begin with a common activity before passing through the tube of this topic.

Close your eyes either big or small and start to think, make sure you are free to think about anything. Do this activity for at most five minutes, and then open your eyes and reflect. “Some people are always thinking about the future, and the good and bad things that might happen to them” ( Tim Hill)

I agree with Tim Hill, since humans are more likely vulnerable to immersed in either the deep ocean of past or wander in the cave of future. Get a paper and write what you thought about? Did you waste your five minutes on what you have lost or gained ‘ past’ ? Did you think about the time which is even not guaranteed to you ‘ future’? or you reflected upon NOW?

Congratulation to those who allowed their minds to think about NOW, since it really needs your notice and attention. In a short, never waste your energy and time on those things where you don’t hold sheer control. We all must accept that not everything lies under our umbrella of will. We must develop a stamina to accept those which we cannot change and change which we can.

Illusion of control has certainly trapped most of us in its strong web, “ Not everything in life is within our control. Believing that it is can be a serious handicap to getting things done in design work and most of life. Learning how to handle the illusion of control will make it much easier to accept things that aren’t within your control and focus your efforts on areas which do lay within your control”  (https://www.interaction-design.org)
If you want real control, drop the illusion of control; let life have you. It does anyway. You’re just telling yourself the story of how it doesn’t. ( Byron Katie)