The success journey is laced with experiences and the test of our endurance at various levels – physical, mental, emotional. We go through the journey – at times exciting, at times excruciating – trying to acquire the relevant knowledge as well as skillsets to grow and thrive. There are two key aspects to becoming successful – a sense of arrival in the success zone, and once there, to stay relevant.
At various points, the ability to reinvent ourselves becomes critical, given the rapid rate at which the dynamics of the world change and evolve. The VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) World and the challenges that keep coming our way – often also due to external uncontrollable factors – keeps us on our toes, constantly testing our inner resolve as well as reserves.
As the canvas of life expands, many people naturally feel fatigued as the journey bit by bit takes a toll on our physical, mental, emotional, and even spiritual infrastructure. The key to sustained success therefore is not just capacity, but often, more importantly, CAPACITY.
Capacity is the ability to keep expanding our capabilities, which essentially requires the constant energy to ride the success journey, which is littered with many layers of obstacles as well as failures. Many people build capability, but at the cost of capacity. Higher levels of capacity provide you with greater leverage to work on your capabilities even if there is a lag. Endurance, persistence and perseverance are Capacity Words. Developing capability is a process and it comes from our capacity to stay the course.
Capacity building is a never-ending saga as that is where the core game of life is. It comes from our ability to stay energetic and fit enough to do our work and pursue our passions. I deliberately use the term ‘fit enough’ and not just fit, as each one of us has our own ways to build capacity from within. Some people may not have the right overall health parameters mathematically speaking, but are well placed to carry on with their work with the requisite energy. At the other end of the spectrum, for some others, the health parameters mathematically may just be fine, but the inner capacity in terms of the drive needed to push along may be lacking.
Energy Management thus becomes critical to stay the course of life and the success path. Introspect on what works for you for your energy management as a regular routine, as also what works for you to bounce back from contexts that create fatigue in you, which could be often.
Meditation is at the heart of energy management. Meditation need not always be ‘eyes closed techniques’. It can simply be something that puts you in your zone – like listening to music, or even singing, walking, praying, driving, reading, etc. I always find it fascinating how mothers have this natural meditative ability to constantly keep an eye on their toddlers even as they go about their chores.
No doubt, ‘eyes closed meditation techniques’, when done in the right way, are immensely beneficial. It is highly recommended to inculcate a discipline of such meditation every day for some time to shut yourself off from the external noise to connect with your inner self. Being in the zone is also just that – Connectedness. I personally rely primarily on my meditation practice as that is what works for me to build my capacities, so that I have the requisite fuel to keep working on growing my capabilities.
So, find your own Capacity Models to keep improvising on your Capability Pathways.
(Hariharan Iyer is a seasoned Motivational Speaker, Corporate Trainer and Author of multiple management books. His latest release is Off Stump – Life And Management Lessons From Cricket. He is the Founder-Creator of Hariharan’s School Of Success Education (HSSE) - www.thehsse.com. He is popularly referred to as The Enter-Trainer®. He can be reached on hariharan@thehsse.com).
