Travelling, not destination

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Question: Sir, I saw one of your videos titled, ‘Ready to write a new story?’. In this video, you have said that we should not follow the same, old story. I understand that we should write our own story. I know what I want to do and I am walking on that path. What is it that will keep me going? I know which way it is going but what is it that will keep me stick to it and stay motivated about it? Can something be done which will help me save myself and write a new story?

Acharya Prashant (AP): The sheer enjoyment of walking keeps you going. If you think that the lure of reaching, that the lure of the destination keeps you going, then sooner or later you will be exhausted. Those who are attracted by the destination become exhausted. That is why we make goals, but we find that our goals are transient. Goals come and go. Our resolutions keep breaking. It is because they are all focused on the destination, what you want to get.

Contrasted to this, there is another man who is not thinking at all of the destinations. It is because there is hardly any destination. He is enjoying the movement, the traveling itself. The fun in traveling keeps you going. There is no other motivation.

When I meet senior students, they have lots of queries regarding their careers. They would ask how should they choose which organization to work with. My advice to them on this is, choose a job that you can do even without getting paid. If you can get a job that you would like to do even if it does not pay you anything, then you are in heaven. Then every moment will be joyful.

One of my old students once came to meet me. I asked him where he was working. He told me that he has set up his own company. He had established his own firm. He told me a few things about the work his company was doing, and he also added that his company was not making enough money. He was feeding it out of his own saving. I asked him why he was investing so much in it then.

He answered, ‘Sir, some seven-eight years back you told me that if I can find a job that I can do without getting paid, then it would be very beautiful. Today I have a job that I am doing without getting paid for it. So, you can imagine that it must be…