WHAT IS A CAREER VISION?

WHAT IS A CAREER VISION?

 

We talked about acquiring knowledge, a real personal, interconnected deep understanding of your field. Real knowledge, true learning leads to a VISION – a clear picture about what you can do in the world. This is the most beautiful, most precious thing in the world . It is this that becomes the source of unlimited energy, enthusiasm and joy. It is this that leads to breath stopping action and work.

Once Pt. Ravi Shankar saw the light in music, once he understood music (not just accepted and repeated) he at once saw what was possible to him! He saw himself composing, rendering music without end! He saw himself on an adventurous journey where he would learn on and on and play on and on !

He had found the secret and knew that no one could take away this from him. It was not money, fame , position that he was seeing In the future. (though he got all these things). He was seeing what he will bring into the world that didn’t exist before, what he would do with the sitar and how he would give the same joy to millions.

Think about this. This kind of feeling of power (it is a great power!) to create great values is that trembling , is the ecstasy , is the laughter!

This is true of all great visionaries. Dheerubai Ambani after learning, truly learning about his area of business saw- as a vision – what he could do for India. He knew and saw and was sure- 100% . That was the root of his communicative ability! HHhh He carried ever body along! It was so clear to him his idea- and so practical and true , he could not remain still , he had to go on and on and on and he crossed all hurdles and achieved his vision !

Think of Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Sunita Williams, Einsten, Henryford, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs , M S Subbalakshmi.… all the great visionaries. Their fields were different but all learnt truly and all then saw their path and all were filled with an unlimited energy, passion , excitement and joy.

Who would want anything else if this is possible and real?

Dear reader, this is what happens after you truly learn, this is the creative principle , the very source and meaning of life . Life is nothing but learning and finding one’s clear vision and then making it true.

Now, do you understand, true knowledge is power – literally. It is not some empty, boring, dead thing. Oh no! It is exciting, pulsating with power. It is life itself!

In fact, true learning makes you realize that life is infinite! There are not one but hundred things to do! And you formulate and develop the full, lifelong purpose for yourself.

So obviously that purpose will not be limited. It will be unbelievable big. Ambani’s - “ I will change the face of India “ is a vision . “ I will earn a million “ is only a limited ambition. You understand , a vision is naturally , by its very nature , a big one.

Serena’s and Venus’s father saw his daughter ruling women’s tennis. He actually did. Jawed Habib used hair dressing and turned it into his vision.

A vision can be anything but since it flows from true learning, it encompasses the whole world.

It is unbelievable to ordinary people who are blind to this world. It is clear, simple, obvious, sure and exciting to a man who has seen it to be possible through true learning.

Yes! Learning and vision, knowledge and action are one! They are inseparable. To know, truly know, is to then see its applications, see what is possible and then it is to get excited and passionate, work and work and achieve the vision !

So, once you have finished your learning, you will naturally get hundred ideas of what can be done, the values you would bring into the world. It is here that you find your love ! Your vision, the possibility of what can be done, your new creative idea is your supreme and prime love.

And then you will go on and on, knowing no rest. You will work and work and no one can stop you .

How does one implement a career vision? We will see that in the next section.

THE ART OF TRUE LEARNING- WHAT IS TRUE LEARNING?

THE ART OF TRUE LEARNING- WHAT IS TRUE LEARNING?

The guru of Pt.Ravi Shankar ( The sitar Maestro) once said about Ravi Shankar that “it was as if he had discovered a great laughter and he has been laughing since then….”

There are many who learn sitar for years but none of them seem to discover that “great laughter”

Such examples can be multiplied without end……

There are many who paint, sketch, sometimes quite well in the sense that everybody says they are good but there is something that happens to a Ravi Varma (say) or a Picasso. These painters never stopped and more – they continuously grew, they went on & on & on trying, experimenting as if there was no end or no limit……. Again that “laughter”

I met an Indian movie director once and we had a long chat. In the course of our conversation he said “you know there are secrets to making movies. Once you know it , it is easy “. A year later, I read that he had won the national award. “ Secrets”, “laughter” “passion” , “ madness” – what is it about the learning process that some people become really crazy about it ? It is as if a lightening has hit them and they are changed ! It is love . People in love behave like this. But these people love things, fields, subjects. After all it is just a subject why should one become crazy about it?

Notice that in our schools, colleges – as a rule nobody seems to be crazy like that. We have periods, bells, text books, exams, competitions ,dull students, toppers but no one who talks about subjects as if he has gone crazy?

Nobody likes studies. In fact studying means boring!. The words have become synonymous. Laughter, secrets, madness on one hand and duty, seriousness and boredom on the other hand, again a duality. Again we come to point where a question needs to be asked.

What is true learning? When do we get hit by something? How is it what we discover the “secrets”, the “laughter”? Let us proceed to explore this whole business of learning fresh, sincerely with our mind & heart.

I will start with a shocking statement and then I am going to discuss it.

The majority don’t know anything, not really ,truly . They think they know but in fact, in reality they don’t.

The above is a sweeping, statement but the tragedy and wonder of the world is that it is true .

Why do I say that? What do I mean ? After all people do know something. After all they do go to school, do degrees, PGs, even Ph.Ds. They work too. If they didn’t know anything then how can they pass and how can they work and earn?

When I say that people don’t know anything I mean that the thing they know is not real, is not seen by their own eyes, mind and heart. It is a thing logically, superficially accepted but not as a real, actual truth, phenomenon and reality.

If you really know not many things but one thing, if that one thing you see, you comprehend and say “Yes! It is like that in reality and hence true “, you would be hit and your mind, your brain centers (so to speak) will open and be on and you will go on from there and start finding and discovering things. You will be led one after the other and for the first time discover the beauty, the magic and above all the wonder of our world…….

This point is difficult to understand but it is simple if I give you an example. 

Many people ‘know’ what causes ‘night & day’. We will accept it and now we say we ‘know ‘it. I challenge even this.

What causes ‘night’ & ‘day’? The earth turns once every 24 hours. When it faces the sun, there is day and when it doesn’t it is night. Simple. But do you agree? Do you feel it? Do you really feel that the earth is moving? Where and what is the evidence? How did we know it?

And why does the earth rotate (and revolve too). You see, the ‘answers’ & ‘ explanation ‘ when given to you didn’t hit you . Otherwise you would wonder about the above questions naturally. You would have brooded over it and worried about it. It staggers the imagination. doesn’t it? The whole earth moving in empty space and the sun constantly giving light for millions of years. Look at the number of questions then that can occur to us? Who or what put it in motion? How did it happen? When did it happen? When was the earth formed? Why? How? How does the sun give light? What is happening in the sun? And life, what is life? Why is life there in earth alone? You can go on now………hundreds of questions are triggered on your brain, even philosophical questions ……. Why are we on the earth? Is there a God? If yes, what, how, when? If no, who created that concept ,when ,why ?

You see plants and animals too having life? You look at a cat or a dog an insect or a plant and wonder …when did these come into existence, your teacher causally tells you life came a 300 crore years back and then life evolved … This staggers you … such a complex thriving , all working like clockwork, precisely began only a 300 crore years ago and then evolved ! That too only on earth ….. This process leads to almost all the questions and hence all the answers are laid open for your eyes to see and to understand. The very questions laid open the answers and you feel only now you understand , you are now seeing things ….you feel the power, the complexity and the simplicity –all at once , incredibly.

Laughter!?

Yes! A laughter rises from deep within you, you feel like the first man, the only man now . That is vision, sight understanding –the very meaning of being a man.

That is the godlike thing called true learning! The majority don’t know deeply because whatever they know they accepted without feeling, savoring, understanding, questioning and thinking. Why? Because they were not honest, simple, humble. They never thought or even knew that they can understand and see. They just accepted. And it is not really real, true, convincing to their own minds.

ARE YOU HAPPY WITH YOUR CAREER?

ARE YOU HAPPY WITH YOUR CAREER?

Whether you are a working professional or a student, the above question is very important

Are you happy with your career?

Is it precious to you, meaningful to you?

Do you get up every day and want to rush to college/office and start the exciting day?

Do you feel a tightening in your belly when you think about your life and the great things that are going to happen to you?

Do you feel an unlimited energy and enthusiasm towards your career /field?

It us such a terrible tragedy that the above feelings towards one’s work are extremely rare. 99% of the people are caught up with their busy schedules and do not find the time, the space, the peace to think these things. 

Thus they are forced to become followers. They follow the crowd. And what does the crowd follow? They do a job –a good paying one by which they mean a little more than average pay scales. They marry and have kids. They follow all the conventions set by society, they work for respectability , a bank balance and in the process forget their deep, inner desires and actually needs. A strange fear settles in their soul, not fear of some real danger. It is more an insecurity about life. They know they have missed and are missing real living, they carry an undefined pain and guilt and they can’ t even identify that in themselves. 

They are now driven to work. Note this point. The motivating factor, the ruling factor in their lives is not love but fear. It is fear that makes them run, it is fear that makes them shut their minds to their true desires and needs, it is fear that pushes them to make friends 

They adjust to this life and they define themselves as much lesser than what they could have potentially been. 

Isn’t the above true?

Isn’t this the reality all around us?

Yet happiness is possible. Energy and enthusiasm are real. There are people like that, the true, great leaders who do live like that.

The key to the psychology of great leaders who are deeply happy ,who get a great kick out of life is NOT genius or intelligence; it is courage , daring and lack of fear.

They demonstrate a daring to examine, question the things society tells them .Them develop their own vision of their life. They do not blindly listen to others. They take as their role models not their immediate boring people, but great personalities .They suffer from no complexes, insecurities & fears!

Their attitude is: I want a great life. I will work hard for it. I will die if I do not achieve great things. I will find out, I will not, cannot (!) settle for less!”

You see ambition, true ambition, not narrow, limited ambition, dominates their imagination. 

In that process of thinking, fear vanishes. They too fear, feel insecure at times but fear is not in the driving seat. It has been thrown to the back seat; they hate fear, weakness and following others .They love their life and cannot even imagine less than the greatest life.

All of us, each and every one of us, have this true ambition deep and hidden in our hearts. But we adjust and agree to live by the demands made by the society around us because we become lonely, frustrated, pressured and develop deep fears. We are always carrying that baggage and never even for a moment, do we feel free, hence joyous.

So you see, dear reader, it is not your ability as such, or your potential that limits you but your own decision to live a limited life! Only that!

You can become happy and develop an unlimited ambition, energy and passion towards your career and life.

For that you must understand that you do not really have to live like that. There is nothing to lose but only to gain if you decide to live life the way you deeply and really want. 

Remember, dear reader, you are a human being , you are born for joy , you can say that you are good enough but it never becomes true and deep within you know it. The truth is that you are born for greatness and a joyous life.

It is more than possible, it is natural! Now do you see the tragedy, the real tragedy of the world? It is not poverty, terrorism, corruption, lack of values. It is this “shutting one’s mind “and limiting one’s life by coming to wrong conclusions.

Many people say the following one time or the other in their lives. 

“I am not talented. I am average “

“Greatness is not practical. After all I will starve if I think these things”

“Everybody is better than me and I can never be good. Great people are born. I am not brave .I am not like that”

“Why fight? What for? I want to be happy & adjust. I will lose nothing “

“Great people are special. Me? A genius? Oh no!”

“I am happy. I am fine “

“People will not give you a chance. You have to adjust & compromise”.

“Why should I bother? Who am I to change the world?”

“ I don’t love anything. What is love?”

This book will, hopefully, give you the clarity you need to truly understand life and liberate yourselves from the shackles- invisible but real- that society forces and influences you to carry. 

First we discuss true ambition and how to develop one foe yourself.

Then we make clear how you can be a great learner and blast the fallacy of “I am average. I am not talented”

Finally we show you how a VISION, a lifelong work emerges from true learning and how to implement it!!

Happy discovery!!