Today, while chewing on a few other things, this struck me.
What is success? How do we all define success? How do we measure success?
Golden words from Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield:
If you view crossing the finish line as the measure of your life, you’re setting yourself up for a personal disaster. … Commanding a spaceship or doing a spacewalk is a very rare, singular moment-in-time event in the continuum of life. You need to honor the highs and the peaks in the moments — you need to prepare your life for them — but recognize the fact that the preparation for those moments is your life and, in fact, that’s the richness of your life. … The challenge that we set for each other, and the way that we shape ourselves to rise to that challenge, is life.
The gita says enjoy your work. Give your best. Don't focus on the results.
But your western Industrialized world says "Productivity and end result are what matter".
I can see a lot of people around me, who don't necessarily feel succesful, including me.
This brings me to a serious question. Why do some of us feel let down or less successful?
I think it's probably we're so result oriented. It's happened to me so many times that despite careful planning and execution and care, my dishes have turned out bad. For something as simple as a 2 hour job - things go awry. Imagine year long projects with so many people working and so many unknown things! We're all so focused on the end result that all the effort and progress we did, as part of the project. The actual progress happens during the one year. Only the appreciation and felicitation or brickbats come at the end. Since we've all given so much important only to the end, we completely forget how we've progressed and what we've learnt.
I for one, have very coolly neglected all the things I've changed within myself to go from step 1 to 2. The issues I have resolved, the habits I have changed, the things I've learnt, my handling of fears, etc. These are the successes. Since I've also relied so much on the end result, which, in my case, somehow has been quite bad - I have felt let down and felt like a failure. I fail to see how much I have progressed. I fail to see the amazing things I've learnt. I've failed to see how well I have got over some of my fears. I failed to see how better I have become at communicating, how crisp my talks have become and how I don't deviate from the topic at hand... how I ask all the right questions. I failed to look at how efficiently I have setup things at home..how much of cooking knowledge I have picked up...All the time I've just looked at the not so great results and failed to realize the progress.
This is what's happening with most people. As long as we see only the results, 99% of the world is bound to remain unhappy. A very sad, but predictable state given our obsession with results, productivity and statistics.
What is success? How do we all define success? How do we measure success?
Golden words from Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield:
If you view crossing the finish line as the measure of your life, you’re setting yourself up for a personal disaster. … Commanding a spaceship or doing a spacewalk is a very rare, singular moment-in-time event in the continuum of life. You need to honor the highs and the peaks in the moments — you need to prepare your life for them — but recognize the fact that the preparation for those moments is your life and, in fact, that’s the richness of your life. … The challenge that we set for each other, and the way that we shape ourselves to rise to that challenge, is life.
The gita says enjoy your work. Give your best. Don't focus on the results.
But your western Industrialized world says "Productivity and end result are what matter".
I can see a lot of people around me, who don't necessarily feel succesful, including me.
This brings me to a serious question. Why do some of us feel let down or less successful?
I think it's probably we're so result oriented. It's happened to me so many times that despite careful planning and execution and care, my dishes have turned out bad. For something as simple as a 2 hour job - things go awry. Imagine year long projects with so many people working and so many unknown things! We're all so focused on the end result that all the effort and progress we did, as part of the project. The actual progress happens during the one year. Only the appreciation and felicitation or brickbats come at the end. Since we've all given so much important only to the end, we completely forget how we've progressed and what we've learnt.
I for one, have very coolly neglected all the things I've changed within myself to go from step 1 to 2. The issues I have resolved, the habits I have changed, the things I've learnt, my handling of fears, etc. These are the successes. Since I've also relied so much on the end result, which, in my case, somehow has been quite bad - I have felt let down and felt like a failure. I fail to see how much I have progressed. I fail to see the amazing things I've learnt. I've failed to see how well I have got over some of my fears. I failed to see how better I have become at communicating, how crisp my talks have become and how I don't deviate from the topic at hand... how I ask all the right questions. I failed to look at how efficiently I have setup things at home..how much of cooking knowledge I have picked up...All the time I've just looked at the not so great results and failed to realize the progress.
This is what's happening with most people. As long as we see only the results, 99% of the world is bound to remain unhappy. A very sad, but predictable state given our obsession with results, productivity and statistics.
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