13. Do Your Best But Let Go Of Outcomes
I want to show you a different way to think about effort. A fundamental ingredient to being a happy and contented person is that with every human activity you must LET GO OF THE OUTCOME. It is always the positive energy, the good mental attitude, the effort, the good karma if you like that you put into a job that is also the result of the job, and NOT the physical outcome. This is because it is what you personally put into a job that will be the lasting effect of the job in terms of contributing to how you feel afterwards-not the physical outcome. By all means derive satisfaction from a completed quality job but always know that it is the effort that counts, i.e. do your best and let go of the outcome.
You will know how sometimes when you finish a substantial job for example it might have been decorating a room or (for the more ambitious) installing a new bathroom, that finishing can often seem like an anticlimax. It can often be that you realise that you actually enjoyed doing the project more than the pleasure you get from the end result. And this is why I assert that it is what you put into a job that will contribute to how you feel afterwards. It is also the positive energy that you have put into the job, and thereby deposited in your positive energy account, that will have contributed to shaping your personality and enduring overall happiness. To give you an example in my life I have done lot of DIY and moved around a lot and I no longer even own or have access to the vast majority of the DIY projects that I have completed so I cannot derive long term satisfaction and well being from the physical outcome of my work, only from the positive energy that I put into those projects.
Importantly I am freeing you here and now from all results that you would previously have viewed as failures or unsuccessful. These are delusions of the mind. If you have done your best and put positive energy into a job then with respect to your happiness and well being it is a success regardless of the physical outcome.
Let me give you an example: Your car needs repairing. You have never done this particular job before but you read about how to do it on the Internet and assess that you have the requisite experience and competence to tackle the job. You maybe also talk to a more experienced friend. You gather up what you think will be the necessary tools. You put on appropriate old clothes. You agree with those around you that you are going to concentrate on this job for the period of time that you estimate that it will take. You then settle down and attempt the work in a relaxed and positive frame of mind in a methodical and organised manner. When you get the affected area stripped down you find that the problem is not quite as you expected. You know that this sort of situation is common in life and it has no power to annoy you or disturb your inner peace. You maybe are going to need another specialist tool that you are going to need to borrow or rent. You maybe need some additional replacement components. It becomes clear that you are not going to be able to finish the job today. Or maybe you realise that for various reasons you will never be able to finish the job yourself and must put it all back together and take the car to a garage. All the time you were enjoying the challenge, interested in the engineering, enjoying the privilege of living and breathing and accumulating more experience and learning.
Now was that a failure or a success? It is absolutely a success because at the end of it the positive attitude that you invested for the duration has made you a happier person. You smile and shrug your shoulders with the wisdom that sometimes you achieve your objective and sometimes you don't and that is all part of the endless fascination of life. The physical result is not the result of the job because although you did your best YOU CANNOT CONTROL OUTCOMES. Physical outcomes are life and you know by now that you must accept life as it is –not as you wish it to be. Of course you would have wanted to get that job finished but you accept that does not always happen.
All you have to do in life is get up each day and do your best. Try to operate with skill and to the best of your ability applying your knowledge and experience but you must LET GO OF THE OUTCOMES. You cannot control them and that is about accepting the world as it is. Understand that if at the time you always try to do your best, and to want the best for those around you, then there is no such thing as failure. All there is - is LIFE and experiences.
You need to be mentally and physically active to be happy and content. You get out of life what you put in more or less on a daily basis. There is very little inertia. You must keep interested in, and stimulated by, a variety of projects and activities whatever they are. You also must maintain the vitality of each of your activities by continuing to be consciously aware of where you are going next in the development of each.
You should pit your wits and talents against the job or game, to the best of your abilities and to your full potential, and enjoy the mental challenge. Ultimately there is little difference between playing an intellectual game, or playing a sport to the best of your ability to doing a job to the best of your ability. Be passionate about what you get involved in and do.
As with any living thing, plant or animal, there is no option of stagnation. You must keep exploring and learning, and growing; the alternative is atrophy, decay and withering.
You have heard the saying ‘Seize the Day’ and this is a good adage. Do not fritter the day away-set some objectives and form a plan of what you hope to do. It does not matter if unexpected things occur which divert you from your plan. The important thing is to approach the day with healthy intent and positive energy.