Questioner: Sir, I saw one of your videos titled, ‘Ready to write a new story?’ In this video, you have said that we should not follow the same old story. I understand that we should write our own story. I know what I want to do and I am walking on that path. What is it that will keep me going? I know which way it is going but what is it that will keep me stick to it and stay motivated about it? Can something be done which will help me save myself and write a new story?
Acharya Prashant: The sheer enjoyment of walking keeps you going. If you think that the lure of reaching, that the lure of the destination keeps you going, then sooner or later you will be exhausted. Those who are attracted by the destination become exhausted. That is why we make goals, but we find that our goals are transient. Goals come and go. Our resolutions keep breaking. It is because they are all focused on the destination, what you want to get.
Contrasted to this, there is another man who is not thinking at all of the destination. It is because there is hardly any destination. He is enjoying the movement, the travelling itself. The fun in travelling keeps you going. There is no other motivation.
When I meet senior students, they have lots of queries regarding their careers. They would ask that how should they choose which organization to work with. My advice to them on this is, choose a job that you can do without even getting paid. If you can get a job that you would like to do even if it does not pay you anything, then you are in heaven. Then every moment will be joyful.
One of my old students once came to meet me. I asked him where he was working. He told me that he has set up his own company. He had established his own firm. He told me a few things about the work his company was doing, and he also added that his company was not making enough money. He was feeding it out of his own savings. I asked him why he was investing so much in it then.
He answered, ‘Sir, some seven-eight years back you told me that if I can find a job that I can do without getting paid, then it would be very beautiful. Today I have a job that I am doing without getting paid for it. So, you can imagine that it must be very, very beautiful.’
People work and then they say, ‘I have worked, so give me money.’ That is what you call as salary. ‘I have worked so you give me money’. And then one reaches a point and says, ‘I thank you that I could work in this way. Now that I have worked, you take money from me. I am so happy that I got an opportunity to get this that you can take money from me.’
What keeps them going? What is their motivation? The work itself is their motivation. Not the destination. When you will find something of that kind in your life, then all the stupidity will vanish. All the immaturity and all the childishness will go away.
Do you know who is a mature man? The one who has known enjoyment. If most of you are immature and appear idiotic, it is because you are suffering. You have never known enjoyment. The day you enter joy, you have entered maturity. All distractions and fidgeting arise from suffering. The mind is suffering, that is why it is restless. It can’t stay put in one place. It is searching for something.
The motivation cannot be in the search. The motivation has to be in the movement.
