Thought 143: It is good to focus on work but not on its result

You have to work – always. The Japanese work hard and are prosperous. If you do not work, you cannot even maintain your body. The body needs to be exercised to be in good shape and health. You should not only work, but you should also glorify your work. Those who work intelligently alone are going to prosper. There is no short cut to success except through hard and intelligent work. Work alone makes you great. Remember, it is as easy to be great as it is to be small.

In this materialistic world, we are taught, right from childhood, that one should have ambitions in life and pursue them with a single-minded perseverance. In the present day society, selfish action is admired and selfless action is pitied. We never do anything, if it does not profit us in some way. Every thing that we do must advance some worldly objective or the other for us. Disinterested action is generally considered wasteful. This is what all the management books proclaim. This is what the success-oriented western society preaches and practices. We want results - and we constantly work for their achievement.

When we constantly focus on the outcome or the lack of it, we get worked up over it. When the mind is worked up over the outcome of a task even before the task begins, it cannot concentrate on the task properly. The worry and anxiety invested in the present moments, transforms into fear of the future.

Tomorrow is only a continuation of today, just as today is a continuation of yesterday. What we invest in the present will decide how prosperous we are going to be in the future. An action today defines the fruit of this action tomorrow. When we waste the precious present moments in imaginary fears for tomorrow, we do not invest in the present moments efficiently.

On the other hand, if you focus your entire store of energy in the present moments and concentrate exclusively on what you do, you give an inspired input. Excellence in input ensures excellence in output. A single-minded devotion to work will always end up in a brilliant success - besides giving job satisfaction. If it is success that you want, then, do not strive with a mind ridden with anxiety and fear for the outcome. Even in this materialistic world, focusing on the input exclusively, with no thought of the output (as stipulated in Karma-Yoga) is very essential for success.
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