Enjoy The Effort No Matter What The Effect

The following article appeared in "The Speaking Tree" column in Times of India on 7th Aug 2009. The article is written by Swami Sukhabodhananda.

We have many desires and targets. We don’t always get what we want. Some of us are happy with what we get, and others remain dissatisfied. Still others don’t give up; they keep trying. Which approach would be the right one?

I will recommend another approach. You can have a desire. Put in your best effort to fulfil it. But make sure you enjoy the effort rather than its fruits. There are those who make the effort grumbling and are happy only when the desire is achieved. There are others who exhaust themselves making the effort to such a degree that they have no strength or enthusiasm left to enjoy the fruit. My method is: Enjoy the effort no matter what the effect.

My approach is to celebrate the march towards the destination. If the destination is reached, we will be happy. Even if it is not reached, nobody can take away the sense of thrill at having run the race, the delicious fatigue felt along the whole body. My happiness is derived not from reaching a goal, but from the struggle i wage as part of my attempt at reaching it. I am engaged in talking to you now. Suppose i feel i will be happy only if you give me a thundering ovation when i conclude my lecture. That means i am not fully enjoying my teaching, rather, my mind is set on a particular goal. That very concern may prevent me from giving my best to my teaching and thus act as a barrier to my attaining the goal.

Playing football is one kind of joy, winning is another kind. The problem is we identify joy exclusively with winning. Classical musicians are so absorbed in their performance that for all practical purposes, they are unmindful of the audience, the applause at climactic points, or the money they will receive from the organisers at the end. What they enjoy is their involvement in bringing their art alive, not the end result in the form of ovation or payment. So enjoy the process. Enjoy the travel. Enjoy the endeavour.

Ensure that you will be working smart, not just hard. Don’t go fishing in the bathtub. Don’t try to work up lather in a running stream. Instead, fish in a stream, and work up lather in a bathtub. Set and evaluate your goals, estimate the quantum and quality of efforts to be invested in attaining the goals, calculate the ROI (return on investment) quotient carefully, and then, if you are convinced the ratio is as satisfactory, go ahead and work towards your goals. That is smart work, intelligent effort.

Failure is a fact of life. In all competitive contexts as in sports, for example, one side has to lose. So why not enjoy the effort rather than exult at success or mope at failure? I think it is better mental discipline to celebrate the successes rather than brood on the losses. It is definitely a healthier strategy for the future for anyone wishing to continue in competitive endeavours.

There is also a spiritual lesson in every failure. Failures are necessary to remind people of their essential human vulnerabilities. An unbroken string of successes can create pride and a sense of invincibility about oneself in a high achiever. Remember the bragging, “I am the greatest” that comes out of the mouths of wrestlers and boxing stars? As the common maxim goes, such pride always precedes a great fall. Surrendering to the Lord is an act of bhakti – devotion, and surrender happens only in a spirit of humility.