Work For Work’s Sake
Hello there, my dear readers. Hope y’all are holding up well. The monsoons have shaped up pretty much here making us feel sleepy quite often while working. Now, this might sound like a paradox, as you would see the headline above talks of work, and that too work for the sake of working. Isn’t there a huge contradiction right there?
I mean sure we all are (at least some of us) are very fond of working, but mostly that is for achieving our desired goals. We would study because we dreamt of topping the class, work in the office for our salary, our monthly bonuses and definitely being in the good books of our bosses, especially when appraisals are due.
Now, who on earth ever thinks of working just for the sake of working? We would see that our ancient scriptures teach us this, which no matter how insignificant it might seem to be now, later on, it will have massive implications — it will help build our character, to begin with. So, how do we go about it? Just, pick a piece of work, without even thinking and researching about it, we simply go ahead?
No, surely not. But what we must do instead is to put our hearts and minds into that job, be focused on it 100%, and then when it’s over not think about it anymore. If this sounds rattling to you, please note that I too was totally perplexed when I read about this the first time, and gradually it had gotten better.
You see, these days we hear successful people saying things like “I do not take myself seriously at all!” Initially, I used to wonder what could this mean, I mean why on earth should you not take yourself seriously? Later on, in some interviews, they clarified that they meant if there was huge praise about them from somewhere, about their work, they would just brush it off, and then turn towards their next big thing.
Now, I wouldn’t know how much our scriptures would agree with this kind of thinking, but somewhere I feel like there is a match. In my daily life, I tried implementing this for quite some time, when I was writing to several clients every day, and almost heard back from no one. Usually, in most circumstances, we tend to blame ourselves for all the setbacks and feel like there is something wrong with us, but the reasons can be completely different. I mean it could be that they had already hired, or they were busy with other stuff.
So, instead of overthinking and blaming myself, I decided to just wake up every morning with a positive mindset, would feed my mind that nothing in this would disturb my mental balance, and would continue writing to the clients, without expecting a reply. Repeated this process for a long time, and slowly started getting replies.
So, what was the change here? The fact that I wasn’t bogging myself down unnecessarily, and was doing what I needed to do, without any expectations from anyone. Did the process help me at all? Of course, it did, 100%. I was able to operate from a sense of strength and wasn’t deterred by petty instances.
Now, I have tried to inculcate this practice in almost everything that I do, and never have I ever felt such peace of mind. If there is one thing that I am expecting back at this moment, it is that I could continue this practice for a long time.
And, I am sure we will get to see the fruits soon, even though we are not supposed to be thinking of the fruits.
Thank you, my dear readers, may you all have peace and prosperity in your lives.
