September 2006

Message from Nicole Grace

How to Succeed

"I've got a theory that if you give 100 percent all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end." -- Larry Bird

One of the most common questions posed to me is - not surprisingly - how to achieve success in life and work. What is fascinating to me, and also a bit frustrating, is the number of people who actually seem to be interested simply in success as an end goal, and are not at all interested in how it is achieved. Quite frankly, the majority of people I encounter seem to want the equivalent of winning the lottery. And rather than pursuing a wise and balanced course of action towards achieving success in work and life, these individuals waste a spectacular amount of time and energy looking for that quick fix. The problem with this "lottery" approach to winning in life is that, at the end of any period of time spent chasing the highly elusive overnight success, you are no wiser, wealthier or better off than when you began. However, if you work towards building your mind and your skills to new heights every day, if you pursue ongoing education and experience, you will find yourself continuing to excel. At the very least, after a period of time you will be better able to determine your next most productive course of action.

I recently received a letter from a young woman who described feeling unhappy and unfulfilled by her work. She felt she was highly intelligent and was surprised to find herself broke and living back home with her parents. In her letter, she went on to explain that she had enrolled in classes related to her career, but had dropped out because she was frustrated at being "so much more intelligent" than her instructors. Instead of increasing her education in any area of study, she had begun reading ads in the back of new age magazines and was now considering selling various health remedies as a way to make a lot of money quickly (at least, according to the advertisers). Finally, she wrote that she didn't like to be around other people due to her sensitive nature. She felt she had reached certain spiritual heights where being around average, world-focused people had become too unpleasant.

I scarcely knew where to begin responding to this woman's complaints. First of all, intelligence is not marketable; it's simply an advantageous starting point. Smart and educated are two different things. Smart and employable are two very different things. Of course, success doesn't come only from having developed certain skills. It also requires intent, tenacity and hard work. If you are serious about achieving high goals in work or even in spiritual endeavors, you need to apply yourself. Regardless of how worthy you are - or feel you are - anything of value in life requires effort, striving.

This reminds me of a story about the great spiritual master, Ramakrishna. He lived in India in the early 20th century and is considered one of the most extraordinary saints to have ever walked the earth. In his youth, he was deeply attracted to the pursuit of God realization. He was also uniquely able to experience exalted spiritual states. Nevertheless, he entered into studies with teachers of a number of different pathways, applying himself with amazing discipline and effort to the methods described to him. Not content to learn how to attain liberation through a single Way, he experienced realization through all the pathways he studied and practiced. Surely, he could have recognized that he was more evolved than his teachers and just wandered off into the mountains feeling better than everyone around him. Instead, he recognized that his potential and his abilities were not yet aligned and he humbly sought instruction and guidance from others.

I think that if Ramakrishna himself could have the humility to learn about spirituality - something he was largely born knowing - we can all consider seeking instruction and guidance from those who have proven to be, at least at the moment, slightly further along than we are in these areas. In the Bhagavad-Gita (considered the Hindu bible), the enlightened teacher Krishna tells his disciple Arjuna, "Work done with anxiety about results is far inferior to work done without such anxiety, in the calm of self-surrender...They who work selfishly for results are miserable."§ The key to success, as well as to finding peace, is to respect each moment of action for itself. As I write in Mastery At Work, if we focus on bringing the best of ourselves to our present activity, the outcome will inevitably be the best that is possible. However, if we expend energy and attention focusing on a particular outcome, we inevitably neglect to some extent our immediate actions, resulting in a less desirable, less impressive outcome.

As we direct our energy towards bettering ourselves every day, improving our minds, increasing our skills and experience, while focusing as best we can on bringing our best to every action, we will evolve. This type of discipline raises consciousness and allows us to mature professionally, emotionally and spiritually. Living this way, you simply cannot fail. The success you have envisioned for yourself will come eventually. Until then, a different and powerful form of success, a day-to-day championing of spirit and achievement, will be yours.

By building your strength in the material world, you make it possible to live in it, ferociously and enthusiastically. By working hard and pursuing goals with humility, you increase - rather than decrease - your capacity to survive and thrive amongst other individuals, regardless of their level of purity or awakening. So if you find yourself, like the young woman who wrote to me, becoming weaker, more frustrated, more unhappy, and less financially stable, and yet remain confident of your unusual intelligence and superiority over others, perhaps you might want to reflect more carefully upon the obvious reality of your situation. It might be time to consider Ramakrishna's story - and the stories of other remarkable individuals. Read accounts of men and women, both spiritual and worldly, who managed to surpass their peers and achieve great things in life. You will undoubtedly find that none of the individuals remembered by history achieved their success overnight. They didn't win the lottery or benefit from get-rich-quick schemes. They won their greatness through tremendous personal effort and unwavering pursuit of their goals. But the real prize is never actually manifesting any particular outcome. Rather, it is the knowledge, clarity and peace that come from goals sought wisely and a life well lived.

Nicole Grace September 2006

"No man ever wetted clay and then left it, as if there would be bricks by chance and fortune."

-- Plutarch

§ "The Song of God: Bhagavad-Gita." Translated by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood, Penguin Books, 1972.