Lately it seems as if I am consumed by a need to view videos on the web; this is true. The reason: if I cannot find the answers I seek on my own, I shall find them through the minds, and words spoken from the mouths, of others.

I have viewed many videos recently. The one I found to parallel what I believe, most accurately, was the recording of a talk given by Professor Srikumar S. Rao:

Srikumar Rao: Plug into your hard-wired happiness

Rao discusses the idea of happiness and why people so often fail to reach or “achieve” it. The idea of happiness in my perspective is unique to each person. To me it is plainly a state where the world that surrounds one is enjoyable, in the purest and honest sense. It is a state where one can aspire for more but not necessarily feel a “need” for more; happiness can come in any shape, form, or color. Happiness is found from within and grows from within, it is purely ones doing and in this, Rao compliments my belief.

Rao states that one should concentrate on the process of achieving a goal but not necessarily on the goal itself. If one concentrates on a goal and fails to accomplish it, then, automatically not achieving the goal means one has failed. However, if one concentrates on the process, one never fails but instead changes or molds the goal being achieved. Some could interpret this as a deliberate means by which to never establish a goal, it might seem too vague, but it is everything *but_** that. Being able to change goals is another way to grow. People change, whether be it because of the circumstances they face or purely because they chose to, and the minute people change, quite often, so do their goals.

My goals have always been the same, granted I tell myself I have two conflicting personalities, but my goals have always been the same, the only difference is that one is harder, essentially more taxing on my person, than the other. I do not know the methods through which I will achieve my goals but I know that whatever method is used, will be the one that is not easiest or most comforting, but most thought provoking and challenging. I don’t like the complicated and the “tragic”, but I do enjoy a challenge and I find that looking for (and taking) the “easy way out” never leaves me feeling fulfilled or happy, it typically leaves me disoriented and at times frustrated.

Investing in the process and not the outcome:

  • don’t get caught up in the goal and lose sight of why you chose to achieve it in the first place
  • be afraid of forgetting your purpose, not on the prospect of failing
  • embark on a project because the project itself pleases you and not because completing it will find you “accomplished”
  • being afraid is okay, but letting that fear stop you from moving forward is not: you fail before giving yourself a chance to succeed
  • it is not about the reward but about the person you are when you begin and finish