Recently a close acquaintance came across a rough patch in her health, despite taking good consistent care of herself. She was confined to her bed for a good month, and this affected her work. In fact it had a huge impact on her work as she is the founder of a tech startup.
Restrictions on movement and occupation of her mind, gave her enough time to think deeply about herself, especially her choices, her family and her work. During a recent conversation on the phone she shared with me that she plans to devote more time to selfless service to make the most of her time on this planet and also to create a wholesome balance of good deeds that would come to her rescue during any kind of difficult times.
After the call ended, the later part of our conversation and her strategy to remain afloat in choppy seas did not settle well with me. On deeper examination of her thought, I felt that she was planning to or had rather made up her mind to use service as a pair of crutches, when that is not the purpose of service. Although her actions or proposed actions were virtuous in their appearance, yet they were not sincere in their intrinsic composition.
Thus, performing a particular activity can form our habit which can go on to shape our character. Our character can make us deserving of bounties and success in life, but not really accomplish those for us. Success can only be achieved through vision. So, on further examining the element of vision, I found that it is the intent which creates the vision. The process can be broken down into simple steps
The right intent leads to the right thoughts which further create the right vision. The right vision leads to the right inspired actions which finally accomplish the right goals culminating into the creation of the right reality over a period of time.
So, merely distributing food among the downtrodden in the society will not guarantee the fulfillment of one’s purpose of service. Merely giving incentive to the employees to increase sales will not boost the latter. Rather, when the leader has the intention to build a business with growing sales, the modification in self goes deeper than just the to-do list; it reaches the inner sanctum of the mind to know the reason for making a business with growing sales, and then working towards the desired change in action and not just performing the new action in isolation.