The Key To Unlocking Success

Sadhguru looks at what it takes to be truly successful, and how even the very idea of success that we have in our minds might be very limited.

Sadhguru: According to the world, success means you are running a little faster than someone next to you. That is not my idea of success. For me, success is “Am I able to use myself fully? Am I able to explore the potential of who I am to its fullest possibility?” If that has to happen, you need perception and an active intelligence. 

“How do I grow my intelligence?” Don’t worry about that. People are trying to broaden their minds. That will only make you socially successful, not truly successful. Right now, the important thing is to enhance your perception. If you are able to see life just the way it is, without distortions, you have the necessary intelligence to conduct it well. You can play life joyfully and you can play it well for sure. If you can play it well, people will say you are successful. 

What Do You See?

It happened once, Sherlock Holmes and Watson went camping in the mountains. Night fell and they went to sleep. In the middle of the night, Sherlock Holmes nudged Watson and Watson opened his eyes. Sherlock Holmes asked him, “What do you see?” 

Watson looked up and said, “I see clear sky and stars, lots of stars.” 

Sherlock Holmes asked, “What does that mean to you?” 

Watson answered, “That means another nice, sunny day tomorrow. What does it mean to you?” 

Sherlock Holmes said, “It means to me that someone has stolen our tent.”

If you want to do anything successfully, it is not your qualification that counts. It simply depends upon the clarity of your perception of the realities around you.

You can successfully walk through every aspect of your life only if you see life the way it is. Otherwise it will be a stumbling process. Success means you are walking faster than others. If you are walking faster than others and your perception is not good, obviously you will be more stressed and freaked than anyone else because you are bumping into everything. 

If you want to do anything successfully, it is not your qualification that counts. It simply depends upon the clarity of your perception of the realities around you. If you see today very clearly, you may be selling a lottery ticket and making money. If you see tomorrow very clearly, you will be buying a plan to sell back tomorrow. If you see what is fifty years later very clearly, you would be doing something totally different. 

The Wrong Thing At The Wrong Time

Those people who failed were also well-qualified, intelligent and capable. But they failed to perceive certain things at certain moments in their life. You bought the wrong piece of property at the wrong time. You got in the wrong business at the wrong time. You got the wrong guy to handle the wrong thing. That is all failure is, and that is all success is too. 

Do not seek success, just seek competence – how to enhance yourself to a higher level.

People who have grown successful may not be extraordinarily brilliant in something, but they kept their clarity of perception clear. They just perceive what you are talking and right there, they can nail you down about what is there and what is not there. 

So, do not seek success, just seek competence – how to enhance yourself to a higher level. If you are in a great level of competence, wherever you are put, you will anyway succeed. If you are enormously capable, if you grow yourself into a certain dimension of capability, success is not even a goal in your life. It is something that follows you wherever you go. 

If a human being grows to a great potential and great capability, the whole world will seek him or her. Instead of you seeking the world, it is better that people come to you because you are of a certain potential and a possibility.

Editor's Note: Whether you're struggling with a controversial query, feeling puzzled about a taboo topic, or just burning with a question that no one else is willing to answer, now is your chance to ask! Ask Sadhguru your questions at UnplugWithSadhguru.org.