Found it, have I?

I was stirred by a simple realization that, how do I cultivate myself in this vast variety of influences? Henry David Thoreau said, "Every man is the builder of a temple called his body".

Murakami's book on running rewired me (What I Talk About, When I Talk About Running). It recharged a part of my brain which was already aware of these thoughts but had somehow sidestepped it for a want of better clarity. I was trying to grapple things too quickly which was only resulting into disappointment in failing to grasp them completely. For want of a better understanding, I was standing in the shadow of giants in my field, trying to import small portions of their wisdom. They had been momentous in their achievements and complete in their own way, perhaps. Their achievements were an outcome of decades worth of incessant practice of their art. I thought, yes, work then becomes art when you tap your abstract to get the next insight. If not, what good is the brain if we are hoping for just mechanical outcomes? Even a machine can do that.

I have always believed that changes are hard to come by. It requires some special gene in us, which will help us to biologically embrace change, thats what I felt (sarcastically, of course). But I have incorporated some changes for good. I have started changing things in my lifestyle, which were holding me back from doing what was really necessary. One of the major changes I had started some 2 years back, was to quit watching TV. This has resulted into a lot of free time and also helped me seek quality entertainment options rather than watching some drab stuff. This made me realize that when I have free time suddenly pumped into the system, I don't know what to do with it exactly. So I started exploring and found my true calling.

One thing I had learned that evening, when I read pages 76-77 in Murakami's book, was a blinding flash of the obvious. This was something I had known and had believed in for a long time. He mentions about the three most important things for becoming a successful writer (success not by just being a best seller, but being a novelist). He latches onto; Talent, Focus and Endurance. Too many motivational books also describe these as some of the most important factors in becoming good at something, but there was a difference. He said that Talent is abstract, but focus and endurance are more definite. I wondered why this thought was so important out of all the things that I have personally understood. It dawned on me that focus and endurance were the most undervalued aspects of my activities. I appreciated focus and endurance, but I took them for granted as a part of my nature.

But in spite of all the talent, focus and endurance I might have, can I assure a favorable result? What would I get, if I got to know the result? Its like staring at a crystal ball, the ball's guess is as good as mine. I have been reading about the idea of process v/s outcome in almost all books on investing. How developing a process is more important than just having our eye's on the prize. I love this thought, it allows me a lot of freedom to squeeze out all I have, to test it against the logic of my actions & then sit back and watch how it works. Tinkering, Tinkering & more Tinkering.