Socrates
Socrates once said, “To be is to do!” However doing is not just about action but also about transformation. When we act we want to be effective and successful. The journey to success is built one step at a time by actions you take. But it is not just about actions only. It is also about transformation.
The person who starts the journey to success is not the same one who finishes it. This is because during the course of the journey a transformative process takes place and changes us. These changes happen because along the way we are forced to face our shortcomings and our failures. Either we find the transformative process too painful to bear and give up, or we accept the pain and emerge transformed. This transformation brings about our growth and opens new frontiers. As Gail Sheehy said, “If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.”
Our transformation happens along many fronts but the most important one is the reduction in the size of our ego. Our success happens not because of the ego but inspite of it. Letting go of the ego is a painful process but the faster we are able to sideline the ego, the quicker we hasten along on the road to success. Without a super-ego we are able to build alliances and collaborators, and we become eager listeners and learners. As we do, we learn, and as we learn, we become. The journey to success becomes Karma Yoga, a journey out of the ego. So let us not be stilled into non-action by the fear of failure or change. Instead let us step forth into action and allow the forces of change to shape us. After all we got nothing to lose but our ego!
Related: A Butcher’s Yoga
Credits:This has been written by Raj Shah and edited by Ketna Shah.