How To Be Insanely Successful

My life is a testament of failure. I have failed at most of the things I have tried in life. I am very thankful for that because those failures have led to my present reality and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Along this path of failures, I identified certain patterns, if followed could bring insane success to anyone. Just because I have identified these patterns, doesn’t mean I live them all the time, although I try my best. Just as Einstein said - "Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it."  My goal is here not to impart any wisdom as I cannot. I can only provide the knowledge of what I have discovered. You can only acquire wisdom by practicing it for the rest of your life. This sentiment was aptly captured by Herman Hesse - "Knowledge can be conveyed, but not wisdom. It can be found, it can be lived, it is possible to be carried by it, miracles can be performed with it, but it cannot be expressed in words and taught." Without any further ado, here are the three main principles of success -

1. Responsibility: You are not happy with your situation. You hate your job. Your manager is a sadist. Your team mates make your job harder. Your spouse is not understanding. Your business partner is a cheat. You can't lose weight because of the genes your parents gave you. We can blame everyone for our problems but what purpose does that serve? It makes us come to terms with our failures. It dulls the pang we feel in our heart for not meeting our goals, for not realizing our full potential. But it also prevents us from the achieving the same thing that we are depressed about. It keeps us stuck in the vicious cycle of victimhood. Instead, we could take responsibility of everything that happens to us and then also realize that we are also responsible for what will happen to us. That Is a very liberating thought. If our fate is determined by our thoughts and our actions then why not start working towards our goals right now. I am not saying that your manager is not a sadist or your spouse is understanding or your parents didn't give you obesity genes. That is the hand you are dealt. How do you want to play it? Do you want to play the hand to the best of your capabilities or do you want to blame the dealer?
2. Love People: Your colleagues push your buttons. Your manager tries to control you. Your friends are secretly sabotaging you. There are two possibilities - 1) they indeed are trying to harm you. 2) you are wrong in your perception about them. We like to think of ourselve as good human beings. But is it possible that others may have very negative opinion of us? We explain that away as, oh we are just misunderstood. Given that the perception of other people can be wrong about us, is it possible that our perception can be wrong about them? If our perception can be so deceiving, what course of action should we take when dealing with people? Should we be suspicious, un-trusting and indifferent to people or should we be trusting and loving to them? Solzhenitsyn said that we are responsible for everything that happens to us and everything that happens to everyone else. At first, it seems to be a radical position but if we look closely this is indeed true. If we are loving and kind to people then people will not only reciprocate in kind but also pay it forward. This will lead to a network effect of harmony. Think about it, if one human can bring so much positive change in humanity then what will be the responsible thing to do? So the next time, you read 'love thy neighbor', don’t be a cynic, have the courage to be vulnerable.
3. Nishkam Karma (Desireless Action): If you can follow the first two principles, Nishkam Karma, is the only way for you to act. Suppose you are performing an act with the desire of a certain outcome. The desire of the outcome can cloud your judgement on how you act. We read about corporate scandals everyday in the news, they are all products of selfish desires of individuals. How will you react if the certain outcome is not achieved? You could resent the people who you think prevented you from achieving the outcome. You could even resent yourself for not being able to achieve the outcome. The only thing you have faculty over is your thoughts and actions. You have little or no control over the desired outcome. So why let that disturb your tranquility and bring negative emotions in your life. Still not convinced? Nishkam Karma will also improve your chances of achieving the goal that you are trying to achieve in the first place. It will prevent you from getting in your own way. It will liberate you to act in accordance to the  laws of nature. Or in the words of Lao Tzu -  "If you want to accord with the Tao, just do your job, then let go.” 

 Now you might ask, why should you listen to me? What success have I achieved? I am not a billionaire, CEO/founder of a fortune 500 company, inventor of something revolutionary. My response will be, yes I am not any of these things but are these the metrics of success for me? No. There are as many metrics of success as there are people. What metric do you have? How will you measure your life?