A practical application of Realism

Here's a practical application of some of the things I posted yesterday.

You start off by saying to me:

My / Our problem is that I / we don't have enough...

I stop you right there, and without even having to hear the rest can tell you:

Your problem is that your plan is unrealistic.

That's the only problem.

- The whole world is perfect - except maybe you -

Coming down from the highest philosophical platform to a more mundane application:

This world is perfect, as the Sri Isopanisad explains:

The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance.

- Sri Isopanisad, Invocation

Everything is perfect as it is. It is our realization of it that is faulty.

- Application to Leadership and Self-Leadership -

At the practical level of leadership and self-leadership, whenever you think that there is something wrong with either the environmental conditions or the resources at your disposal, know immediately that what is wrong is neither of those, but rather your plan (your realization).

The environment is what it is. That's reality. The resources at your disposal, either personal or organizational, are what they are. That's reality.

The only area where there is some room for unreality to creep in is your plan.

If this is still too theoretical for you, just try this. Every time you catch yourself saying: "The problem is that...", stop yourself and finish it with: "our / my plan is unrealistic."

Once you start doing this you'll find (not control, but) the ability to influence the situation returning to your hands. By assuming responsibility you gain response-ability - the capability to become proactive in the situation.

It's not that you don't have enough men, enough money, enough time. It's just that you don't know what to do with the manpower, money, and time that you do have. Your plan is unrealistic given the constraints of the reality that you find yourself in.

Some illustrations to help you grasp the idea:

- His Holiness Hanumat-presaka Swami on being practical -

I first glimpsed this principle while I was in South America. I was in charge of an inner-city temple and restaurant. His Holiness Hanumat-presaka Swami visited and gave me some advice. He said: "One way of doing things is to look at what you've got, and then figure out what you can do with it. Let's say you've got a kitchen and a pickup truck. Well, then you might decide to do Food for Life. You cook in the kitchen, and you use the pickup truck to take the prasadam somewhere to distribute it."

Based on this instruction, when I arrived in Brisbane I could have complained that I didn't have this or I didn't have that, but instead I looked at what I did have, and figured out how to use that to get the next thing I needed to get the next thing I needed, and so on.

Once you realize that your plan is the only thing in the situation that you can change you stop complaining about the things you can't change, and get on with the business.

- An anecdote from Srila Prabhupada -

Srila Prabhupada tells the story of a vaisya, a person with financial acumen. He starts the day with nothing in his pocket. Then he finds a dead rat (that would be an possum in New Zealand or maybe a roo in Australia) and gets the government bounty for it. He uses this to buy some old vegetables, then sells those at a small profit. In this way he goes through the day working with whatever he has to get more.

- Jesus' Parable of the Talents -

Here is a story that Jesus told, that also illustrates this point - The Parable of the Talents:

The parable tells of a master who was leaving his home to travel, and before going gave his three servants different amounts of money. On returning from his travels, the master asked his servants for an account of the money given to them. The first servant reported that he was given five talents, and he had made five talents more. The master praised the servant as being good and faithful, gave him more responsibility because of his faithfulness, and invited the servant to be joyful together with him.

The second servant said that he had received two talents, and he had made two talents more. The master praised this servant in the same way as being good and faithful, giving him more responsibility and inviting the servant to be joyful together with him.

The last servant who had received one talent reported that knowing his master was a hard man, he buried his talent in the ground for safekeeping, and therefore returned the original amount to his master. The master called him a wicked and lazy servant, saying that he should have placed the money in the bank to generate interest. The master commanded that the one talent be taken away from that servant, and given to the servant with ten talents, because everyone that has much will be given more, and whoever that has a little, even the little that he has will be taken away. And the master ordered the servant to be thrown outside into the darkness where there is "weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The point here is that whatever you have can be used to generate more, if you have a realistic plan. If you spend all your time complaining and fantasizing about a reality that doesn't exist, then you'll get nowhere, and that's what you deserve.

So there is no point complaining that you don't have enough of (whatever). If you can't do something with what you have, it's because your plan is unrealistic given the reality of your situation. If you are unrealistic, then don't expect to be given more to work with. It's kind of obvious, really.

So once you understand this, all this complaining about the state of this institution or that, or what other people are doing or not doing becomes clearly irrelevant and unproductive. The only thing to do is to focus on who you are, where you are, what you have at your disposal, and what you should do next.

- "I admit no shortage in this world" - Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati -

From a devotional perspective, we understand that Krishna never gives us a challenge that we can't face. Whenever we are given a service to perform, Lord Balaram provides us with the strength to carry it out. So it is there. As Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati said: "I admit no shortage in this world except a shortage of Krishna Consciousness." Of course, Krishna Consciousness is reality. So the only shortage in this world is a shortage of realism.

- OK, I give in - now what? -

OK, so you've gone from banging your head against the window, sure that it would go through if you just had (more time, more money, more people helping you bang your head on the window).

You've left the ranks of the fruitless critics and whiners who can neither lead nor follow, but refuse to get out of the way.

You know what's just happened? You've overcome pride and become humble enough to admit - yep, it's my fault. Most people are ineffective because they are too proud to be able to make an accurate assessment. It's a disease that afflicts so many people, within and without our movement. Remember yesterday, I mentioned the example of Indra? We're referring to the Govardhan-lila here. Because of his pride he was unable to make a realistic assessment of Krishna's relative superiority. Result? Defeat.

OK, you're a rare one who wants to take the bold step. You're owning your failure to this point. "Ain't Nobody's Fault But Mine". You want to take back responsibility for your life - but you still find that things just don't work for you. What's going on?

It's not enough to realize that your plan is unrealistic, although that's a great start. You have to learn how to make realistic plans. How do you do that?

You could wait for my book to come out where I discuss it in detail. Or I may pre-publish some excerpts here, if there is any interest.