To really build a DNA of success – these are the 3 things you need – Insight, definitely – Integrity and Inspiration.
If you want to be inspired, first thing is you must find something larger than yourself to do
If you want to be inspired, first thing is you must find something larger than yourself to do. Something which is bigger than yourself to do. If you choose things which are safe, and nice, and easy, which will make you some money – you may make some money, I’m not against it. If that’s the goal, it’s fine. But you will not being inspired.
Living an inspired life, and living a – for lack of vocabulary I’m using this, not as any insult to any profession – a clerical kind of life. When I say clerical – it is all set. You do this this this, you will get your salary. That’s it. No risk. Last generation of people in this country would always say, first thing is, a government employment. That was the aspiration, always. Why? No risk. Whether you are capable, not capable, you have a 40-45 year work span. Doesn’t matter – whether you deliver, you don’t deliver, you can even get there everyday or not – still you got a job. You will never be fired. No risk.
If there has to be inspiration within you, there has to be an element of uncertainty
If there has to be inspiration within you, there has to be an element of uncertainty. Without uncertainty, there is no inspiration. Or a risk, or danger. Where there is no danger, there is no adventure. Where there is no adventure, nobody will be inspired by you. If people don’t see that you are willing to step into something that they are not willing to – you can not inspire anybody. People should see – what they are afraid of stepping into, you are willing to step into.
Well, when you take a risk, you may get burnt. Yes! it can happen. That’s what danger means, that there is a risk. That’s what risk means, sometimes it can go dead wrong. Yes! Of course we calculate the risks. We are not going to blindly walk into something. But, there is a risk. Where there is no danger, there is no adventure. Maybe you are risking your money. maybe you are risking your reputation. Maybe you are risking a loss of time in your life. 10 years of your life may go, without any product. Possible! Hello! When you start a venture, it is possible, 10-15-20 years of your life went into nothing. That risk is there. You may not get killed, like jumping off a mountain. But loss of life is there in many different ways.
So, inspiration – if it has to come, one basic element is Integrity
So, inspiration – if it has to come, one basic element is Integrity. Where there is no integrity, you can not inspire. Integrity means just this – don’t think integrity is a bundle of morals, values, ethics – no. Integrity means, your commitment is larger than yourself. Maybe it’s your business. Maybe it’s your community. Maybe it’s your nation. Maybe it’s the world. We don’t know what. But something larger than yourself. You are committed to that. Then people see, you have integrity. People experience integrity, because you are committed to something beyond your own self interest. If they don’t see that, then you can not inspire anybody. And, if you do not inspire people around you, if they drag their feet – if they drag their feet, your life is finished, just know this. And these dragging feet people will make your life miserable, in every possible way. Hello! You’ve seen them?
So, now the only way is – if you drag your feet, I’ll fire you – If you drag your feet, I’ll fire you. That you can do to some extend. With that you are not going to produce the best in people. It is not just that they are not dragging their feet, it is just that they are going beyond their limits and doing something – only then something wonderful is happening around you. Only then, you being there in that activity, it’s worth getting up tomorrow morning, full on. Otherwise, after being successful for 5-10 years, you will ask – ‘to be, or not to be’. You may not articulate it. But, it will show in the length of your face. Yes! That shows – there is a question mark, what is the purpose of my existence, question mark has come. Maybe it’s not entered your head and become words. But the question mark is there in people’s faces.
A face, if we had seen you when you were 5-6 years of age – it was like this. Now slowly… This means, the question has risen somewhere. Not yet articulated maybe. But, question has come. Why the question has come is – there is no inspiration. Inspiration is not just all yours. The atmosphere around you should be inspired. For that, without a very extreme sense of integrity, it won’t happen. If your integrity is just of morality and ethics, people will feel sick of you. Because it’s very hard to live under a moral shadow. Very hard. It’s life taking. but your integrity is because your commitment is larger than your personal wellbeing. That is when everything around you is inspired.
Insight means, you are able to see something, that others could not see
Coming to Insight. This is the tricky part. Insight means, you are able to see something, that others could not see. You are able to see things ahead of other people. That’s the important thing. Everybody sees everything at some point. But the thing is, you saw it before them. That makes a world of difference. If you are in battle, it would decide whether you live or die. If you are in a business, it decides whether you are really successful or just about making it. If you are in a spiritual process, it’s worse than battles. If you have no insight of any kind, or if there is nobody around you with any insight, then it’s lifetimes of drudgery. If you are not able to grasp any insight, or if there is nobody around you with deep insight, you are just doing spiritual process – now, you are for lifetimes of slavery. Yes. That is why they have become the most serious kind everywhere in the world.
So, if insight has to come, one important dimension is – the reason why there is no insight is – people are largely trying to function with their intellect. This is a unfortunate consequence of the type of education that’s been imparted everywhere, where your intellect is seen as the prime value. to understand the mechanics of how your intellect functions – your intellect is in function only with the data that has been fed into it. Data means, memory. Somebody’s memory, or your memory. Memory means, things that have already happened. So, if you function from the data that you have – you can do permutations and combinations of this data, and make it look like magic for sometime. But one thing is very clear, nothing new will ever happen. Because you’ve gotten enmeshed in your own data.
So, insight means, that you do not get identified with something limited. Your identities with limitations essentially comes from the data that you gather. Right now, you are identified with, let us say, your own personal qualifications. Now, what you identified with, that’s what you become. Or let us say, you are identified with your community, or with your nation. And, that’s what you become. What you identify with, you become that. In that sense, you are not able to look at life just the way it is. If you are not able to look at things just the way it is – this is simply because you have given more significance to memory, than to human attention and and intelligence.. Human attention and intelligence, is of a far more significance than your memory.
You know, you heard of Andrew Carnegie. An Andrew Carnegie started making lots of money in United States. Those are not the days of this Bezos, and Musks, and whatever all these other people. Nobody was making billions. People always made money in incremental way. But this guy started making enormous amount of money. So, naturally there was a suspicion – where is it coming from? Because, these 20’s – 30’s, there were lots of Ponzi schemes in America. So, they thought he is doing something. So, a group of congressmen were formed to investigate Carnegie. This investigation went on for sometime, and they found nothing wrong. Then they called him, and in the investigation they asked him – we don’t find anything wrong. There must be something wrong, because you are making so much money in such a short time. There has to be a crime somewhere here. Where is it? They are asking him!
So, he said – see, I can pay absolute attention to anything that I see for up to 5 minutes. Can any of you do that? They though, rubbish. For 5 minutes can’t we pay attention, tell us what is it. So, he set up an experiment. 5 minutes – nobody could pay attention for more than few seconds. Their attention all over the place. Then they realized, they are not able to pay attention for 5 minutes. Then he said, you should not be running United States. It’s not going to go anywhere, if you guys run this country.
Human attention can open up doors in the existence
Because human attention can open up doors in the existence. Human memory will just recycle the past. Unfortunately, right now – data, data, data – is becoming very big. But anyway, data people will sink, once the more… artificial intelligence becomes more prevalent. My phone has more data then all of you put together. Hello! Yes or no? It is capable of earning a PhD a day! Yes. It has enough information.
So, do not mistake information and data as intelligence. Intelligence is sharpened only by attention, not by thinking. Thinking means recycling data. I’m not saying data is completely irrelevant. It is – if you want to maintain a status quo, data is important.
Do not mistake information and data as intelligence
But, if you want to be a leader – a leader means, you are a mad man who is always wanting to step into something new. Something new means, you want to get into unfamiliar terrain all the time. Unfamiliar terrain means, you are consciously stepping into danger. So, your life is an adventure. Because it’s an adventure, everybody is looking up to you. When everybody is looking up to you, in case you fall, it’s very bad. So, it’s very very important, you upgrade the machine, before you upgrade the activity.
