They Taught Us the Wrong Thing!

The problem with most people is that they are not ready to take action. They are not ready to make a move. Goal setting is only one-half of the work. What is important is achieving them and I don't need to tell you that achieving goals requires hard work. It requires that you stay motivated constantly until you have achieved your goals. But, what really happens is often the opposite. While most people do not set any goals to begin, the few who do just sit there and think to themselves that the goals will be achieved automatically - Absolutely Wrong! You can't imagine crops growing in the fields without the farmer working hard, can you? You can't imagine machines in the factory working automatically without the labor working hard with it, can you? No, you can't. It is very necessary to take action. But why don't people take action when it seems so logical? Why is it that people hold back from doing work for their OWN goals that THEY set for THEMSELVES?

Let me tell you:

When you were a kid, I am sure you must have been taught what everyone has been taught by your teachers, parents, family etc. That one lesson that you learnt in your childhood is widely responsible why people don't take action in life and that lesson is "We MUST BE SATISFIED with what we HAVE". Somehow, we've been forced to believe that being satisfied with what we have is not only good, but rather a NECESSITY, a MUST. Absolutely Wrong, yet again. Before I go into explaining why I believe satisfaction is bad, let us try to understand what satisfaction is and why it is considered GOOD in the first place.

Let us not go by the dictionary definition of satisfaction. In layman's terms - "Satisfaction is a FEELING and STATE OF MIND where one BELIEVES that what he/she has (money, number of houses, cars, abilities, fame - absolutely anything) is ENOUGH and he/she doesn't NEED any MORE OF IT". Let's analyze this definition. The first thing that you will notice about satisfaction is that it is a STATE OF MIND and a FEELING. Secondly, satisfaction is a BELIEF (that one has enough of whatever he/she has). Thirdly, it is a condition where you feel that you "DON'T NEED ANYMORE" of a thing. These three "aspects" of satisfaction are the reasons why it has been deemed as being good and more importantly, why I believe it is bad. Why is satisfaction considered good? Just why? It is correct that we've been TAUGHT so but why is it any good? Why should we be satisfied? The reason that satisfaction is good is because it leads to MENTAL PEACE. When you are always in a state where you are craving for something, your mind is constantly, whether you know it or not, trying to find ways and means to get that thing. What this leads to is a state of disturbance for your mind and draws out the energy (yes, thinking takes a LOT of energy) that you have in store. Hence, in turn, you are constantly becoming physically weak and mentally disturbed (not in the negative sense). However, when satisfaction comes into the picture, your mind KNOWS that you don't NEED or WANT that thing ANYMORE because:

1. You already have enough of it

OR

2. You are happy without it

Thus, there is no craving and hence, no mental exercise in devising ways to get it. Everything is fine till now. The problem begins when people like you and me become satisfied with WHATEVER we have. Take the example of a student in class who gets only 60% marks. He is expected by his parents and teachers to increase that percentage, right? But what would happen if he becomes SATISFIED with that 60%? Simple. He will loose the MOTIVATION required to STUDY HARDER and achieve HIGHER MARKS. Are you with me here?

So it comes down to this: "SATISFACTION KILLS MOTIVATION TO WORK MORE/HARDER/BETTER" And this is why I believe that SATISFACTION IS BAD. Remember one thing, when you are satisfied, it does not mean that you don't need something in reality, no. When you are satisfied you BELIEVE that you don't need something irrespective of the fact that you need it or not in reality. Get it?

What is the way out then? If we are not satisfied, we don't get MENTAL PEACE. If we are satisfied, we loose the MOTIVATION. What should we do? The answer lies in the very definition of satisfaction. We saw above that satisfaction is a feeling AND a state of mind. What does this mean? It means that while satisfaction can be felt as a 'feeling' (like happiness, sadness, anger etc.), it can take control of the mind such that the whole mind reaches a STATE OF SATISFACTION. Take anger as an example. You might feel angry when you are scolded at your work place. That is a FEELING. If you let that feeling 'get to your head', you'll transform yourself into a person whose state of mind is "ANGRY" and you will be angry at all times - you will scream at your family, shout at your friends, refuse to cooperate with your colleagues etc. Get the idea? So what is required is that you should be satisfied BUT that should only be a FEELING. You should feel good that you achieved something (a satisfying feeling) but be ready to work harder to achieve more (motivation intact). This way you will get best of both worlds – mental peace and satisfaction – at the same time. Of course, this requires practice, so why not start right now?

Until next time then,
Get, Set, Live!