“The less we work, the more we expect”

Yesterday, I got a message from my publisher that my book has been officially published. I was working on this book for over a year. When I received the congratulatory messages from my editor’s group, I felt nothing. It felt like an obvious step, and nothing more than that.

I used to be super excited about this day at the start of the project, but strangely, I’m not even an inch closer.

Why does this happen?

In the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Verse 47 (2.47).

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन। मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्म ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥

Meaning — You have control over your actions but not over their results. Do not make results the reason for your action, and do not become attached to inaction.

According to the Gita, we should focus on action without thinking about results. But it is very natural for us to expect good results when we work; how to become free from the expectation of results?

Earlier, I loved writing but couldn’t believe that I had the patience to write a book. And whenever I would write something one day and put it on Instagram or a blog, I would expect people to like it. And when the result was not up to my expectations, I quit.

This happened to me hundreds of times: when I am all excited to do something new and after a few days, it is not exciting anymore, and I quit.

One day I saw some ants feeding on a dead insect. When I tried disturbing them, they moved a bit, but after a few seconds they got back to work. I did it a couple of times; they would not attack me; rather, they simply went back to eating as if someone had assigned them a task of eating as their work. Although we had already heard and seen almost everywhere about this behaviour of ants, looking at them fully present in the moment was telling something in silence, which was far louder than a motivating speech.

And I heard it well.

So when I got this project, I took this as a chance to learn the patience of writing for 2 hours daily. And also to learn not to quit what I had started.

Day by day, I found myself slowly sinking beneath the weight of all the words I was writing. The more I wrote, the heavier it became. And by the time I could notice, I had already written more than 450 pages in less than a year.

Looking back, feels like so much has been achieved. It feels as if someone inside me is patting my back and saying, ‘Finally…! You did it’

When we devote ourselves completely to a work and spend a lot of time with it, then the daily companionship we share with that work becomes the product itself.

In the beginning of any work, the expectation of the outcome is high, but as we progress and immerse ourselves in the process, those expectations gradually fall away, and you become one with the work. And only work remains, without expectations.

Thank you for giving me the most important part of your life.