Carpe diem - Kal Ho Na Ho
In 2006, as part of an Executive Recruiters Association (ERA) program in Chennai, I was nominated from Datamatics to make a presentation on Goals.
I made a PowerPoint presentation which was well received.
Later, in Equitas, when we were celebrating completion of one year from the date of incorporation, I chose to make the same presentation to our employees, about 50 of them, in the presence of Mr. P N Vasudevan, our Managing Director. After I completed my presentation, Vasu came on stage and, in his inimitable style, said something to this effect in Tamil, "I knew Murali has loose screws in his head but I didn't know that he had so many loose screws." After this friendly dig, he went on to appreciate my presentation.
After I took charge of Gurukul schools, I went around to all our schools and made this presentation, only the first 8 slides, to the principals, the teachers and the students of higher classes.
When our first batch of students entered their 9th and 10th standards, I conducted The Best Year Yet Workshop, slide 9 onwards, for them. I was amazed by the enthusiasm displayed by the students and also the quality and depth of participation. It was such a humbling experience.
At the end of the workshop, all the students set their goals for their 10th standard board exams and when the results came at the end of the academic year, we realized, to our pleasant surprise, that most of them had achieved the goals that they had set for themselves. I even shared the Goals vs. Achievements Report with all in Equitas.
Why am I sharing all these now?
In the last few years, my own internalizing of the principle of "Living in the Present" strengthened due to regular study of the material presented by Jiddu Krishnamurti.
Watch Carpe diem - Seize the day
It is generally believed that goals are set for the future.
This article is my own critical assessment of the apparent conflict between "Living in the Present" and my presentation on "Goals".
Click to see my Presentation on Goals
Slide 2: What is a Goal?
Goal is more than a dream... it's a dream being acted upon...
Dream is for the future but goal is dream being acted upon.
When does one act upon anything? Only in the present - not in the past or in the future.
Slide 3: Why Goals?
Goal helps us in accomplishing more - do more, have more and be more...
When I discuss this point, I ask the participants to rearrange "do more, have more and be more" in the right order.
After a bit of discussion, we agree on this order: be more, do more and have more.
When we delve a bit deeper, we get more insights:
Be more is being more than what one is now.
When can one be more? When one sheds the faulty paradigms that one has accumulated and when one aligns with principles, i.e., connects with the Source. This does not require time or space. It just requires realization.
Do more is doing more than what one is doing now. When one is aligned with principles, one is neither held back nor led in the wrong direction by the faulty paradigms. Since there is no resistance, there is no dissipation of energy, and whatever action one takes in that state is infused with so much more energy. Any action taken, centered on principles, is the spontaneous right action in that given context.
Have more is having more than what one has now. The principle, "What you sow is what you reap" or "The law of cause and effect" comes into play here. When we take spontaneous right action, centered on principles, we receive in abundance starting now.
Goal help us in transcending our current realities
On the face of it, this appears to be a contradiction to "Living in the Present" but if one chooses to delve a bit deeper, one realizes that the key word here is "our" current realities.
Our current realities are our subjective realities which are colored by our paradigms. When we shed our faulty paradigms, we transcend "our" current realities and align with "the" reality - the correct reality.
Slide 4: Some quotes on goals...
When I read the quotes now, I do not agree with Dave Mahoney's quote:
The important thing is not where you were or where you are but where you want to get.
While it is not important where you were, it is very important to know where you are now and that knowing, uncluttered by faulty paradigms, enables you to take the right action.
Slide 5: What is stopping us?
Truly and totally contented with the way I am (very rarely)
I totally agree.
When is one truly and totally contented with the way one is? When one is in the state of being.
Anchored in the state of being, whatever action one takes is the spontaneous right action. There is no need to set any goals at all in that state.
Slide 6: Can goals be negative?
If goal is based on illusion
What is illusion?
Illusion is an instance of a wrong or misinterpreted perception of a sensory experience - a deceptive appearance or impression.
And antonym for illusion is reality.
Courtesy: Online dictionary
Only the present is reality. Past and future are illusions.
If goal is achieved at the expense of more important things in our lives.
Many times, when people set goals, they are so focused on the future that they ignore the present.
As has been repeatedly stated, only the present is the reality. By ignoring the present, one is setting oneself up for disillusionment and disappointment.
When one is sensitive to the changing reality, one develops the flexibility to review one's goals, refine, readjust or even discard them to align with the new reality.
Slide 7: How to set principle-based goals?
All things are created twice - Mental or first creation; Physical or second creation.
This point is valid. Care to be taken to ensure that the mental or first creation is from the state of being.
In my article on Integrity - the power of One, my closing remarks are:
Integrity is unity or oneness - of the principles and one's actions.
A principle-based goal is a right thing, for the right reason, the right way.
Isn't this what I have been emphasizing all along?
I rest my case.
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