The Winning Plan

“It seemed pretty straightforward. The rules were simple. The templates were already there. I just had to choose it. At least, that’s what I thought.

Of late, I have been wanting to change certain aspects of my life. Usually, I spend a lot of time planning–videos I want to edit, VFX, stuff I want to create in Unreal Engine, start learning Blender for the fourth time, and get to the end for once. I even paid for some Blender tutorials instead of relying on YouTube, just to commit to the act. I planned so that the timing aligns perfectly with the stuff I want to create using Unreal Engine; such wonderful visuals in my head, all waiting to be brought to life.

Anyway, by the time I get to the execution part of all these plans, I get either distracted or mentally exhausted. Distraction has always been a big hurdle that I have struggled to overcome my entire life. It’s also not necessarily something that comes from external factors. For instance, while building an environment in Unreal Engine, I might get distracted by glittering the scene with unnecessary details that might not even be visible on camera. But it has to be the perfect scene, I just can’t help it. Then come external distractions like video games, movies, friends wanting to hang out, and work. Work is both mentally exhausting and a massive distraction. And that has been the story of my life– a constant chain of unavoidable distractions, keeping me away from the important things in life, draining away my potential of becoming the artist I know I can be.

There’s another fact about me that I can admit. I am ashamed, but I am willing to admit that wanting to change has also been a part of my plan for a long time. But, as I mentioned, it never happened.

‘Not today!’ I said to myself that fine Friday morning of June 6th, 2025. Because at some point, I needed to take action and get to the execution bit. I thought I would start with a writing competition on this website called SeedsyPrompts. I had a day till the deadline, which meant there was no time for planning. I was skeptical about skipping the planning bit because I haven’t done anything like this before. But I couldn’t let that stop me. Besides, how difficult can it be? It’s just writing, I thought. I had the prompts provided by the guys at Seedsy. I need not even worry about using them exactly in my story. It could be there as an inspiration. I just had to choose one of them and come up with a random, beautiful story. Get the win, make some money. Easy-peasy.

But oh boy was I wrong. Seated at my study table, pen in hand and a blank paper in front of me, it took only a few seconds to realise that I was utterly and completely lost. Well, ‘lost’ would be an understatement. My mind was an endless pit of despair, words and ideas desperately trying to crawl out but failing miserably. Just to be clear, writing isn’t something I decided to pick up out of the blue. I have plenty of stories in my head that I eventually want to make short films out of. So, writing was always part of the plan. I thought Seedsy would be the perfect opportunity to kickstart it. But I guess I was wrong. Writing down my stories, without the baggage of grammar, punctuation, and cohesive sentences, was more like keeping notes. Writing for a competition was an entirely different beast. I realized I needed more time. Like my scenes in Unreal Engine, the story has to be perfect. So, with a heavy heart, I decided to skip the competition, with the promise that I would be back with the most amazing story.

But it was not all gloom and doom. Because I had a new plan– note down the stories in brief, turn them into scripts, meanwhile, I’d continue learning Blender. Then, I’ll combine all of them and use Unreal Engine and Blender to make short films. I think it’s the perfect plan that—”

“Wait. Hold on. Just–” interrupted Hike. “I thought you said you wrote the story.”

“Yeah,” replied Adi, “I did!”

Hike was confused. “But you just said you gave up.”

“No. That’s the story I wrote!”

“Where is the story?”

“That’s what I have been reading out to you, you dickhead. Haven’t you paid any attention?”

“Let me get this straight. You wrote a story for a competition, where you want to write for a competition, because you want to start acting on your plans rather than continue planning forever. But then you give up, because you suck at writing. So you go back to planning again?”

“Yeah!”

“And this is supposed to be your submission for this story competition?”

“Yes! I don’t understand. Why is it so hard for you to believe?”

“Because it’s fucking stupid!”

“How is it stupid? It’s a simple story about me, being indecisive and unable to write.”

Hike sighs, “I wish you realized it in real life.”

“Fuck off.”

“That’s what the judges are gonna tell you when they read this abomination,” snaps Hike and starts laughing.

Adi, somewhat embarrassed, smacks Hike on the back of his head. But Hike continues to laugh.

“HaHa. Very funny,” says Adi, trying to defend himself. “It’s not that bad, you know.”

Hike responds immediately, “Oh! You have no idea,” mocking Adi while slowly recovering from the sudden fit of laughter. He continues, “First of all, it’s not even a story. It’s your dumbass trying to convince anyone listening to you that you are wiling to change, might I add, horribly failing to do so. And second,” Hike pauses for a dramatic effect, “It’s just fucking stupid.”

Adi realized he wasn’t winning with Hike. He let out a loud sigh, “Alright, genius! What should I do then?”

“Well, burn it down, go back to the drawing board.”

“You mean plan it out?”

“Yup! Let me help you.”