More than 2000 years ago, the stoics recognized how we ought to not be affected by things we don’t control.
Yet, only too often, we measure success based on things that aren’t in our control. An admission to a famous college, working for a dream employer, annual revenue targets, the likes on our social media profiles – we aren’t in control of any of those outcomes. Sure, those things can be goals we strive toward. But our idea of success need to be decoupled from goals that we don’t control. As Seth Godin tells us, if we measure success based on things we don’t control, we are likely to burnout.
We do not control outputs, but we do control the inputs. We do not control outcomes, but we are in control of our practice.
Success is in merely the dedication, the rigour and the consistency with which we show up to our challenges. The Bhagavad Gita, another ancient fount of wisdom, already told us so. 2000 years later, we still struggle to put this into practice.
Observations 