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The beauty is that through disappointment, you can gain clarity, and with clarity comes conviction and true originality.

– Conan O’Brien

If you feel extremely overburdened by your daily share of activities, this question might feel like it makes no sense.

You might say: 

“Well, I have a lot of things I’m pursuing right now. A series of goals. A long sequence of unfinished projects. A lot of commitments and deadlines. What’s the fun in adding philosophy to this long list? Once I have everything sorted out, I can always have the luxury of delineating the broader contours of life philosophy.”

But, my friend, there are others who have absolutely no problem answering this with conviction — This is what I want. Everything becomes a bit clearer when you bring that level of clarity to your goal. It’s not what you want to get done today, tomorrow or even this year. It’s what you’re trying to get out of life. What you are doing now, is it helpful in making it a reality? If not then, what’s stopping you from making amends?

Clarity

“A clear, well-defined philosophy gives you the guidelines and boundaries that keep you on track,” — the precise reason why you should have one that would guide and drive all your actions.

These philosophies are nothing but your lifelong commitment to aspiring to move much beyond simple self-improvement. The ultimate goal here is radical transformation — of self and society. And that becomes a possibility when you are willing to explore the meaning and purpose of life along with your legitimate place in the universe.

The expression of your character’s strengths and virtues, for example, courage to speak out despite opposition and magnanimity to accept criticism without being provoked are some of the daily steps that could get guided by your core set of philosophy.

Let’s say your philosophy is to do things better than they have ever been done before — think of this as your top-level goal — a compass that gives direction and meaning to all the goals below it. There is a possibility that you might require much lower level and mid-level goals to achieve your highest level goal. For instance, getting out of your door by eight a.m. may look like a low-level goal, but it definitely matters because of a mid-level goal: arriving at work on time.

Why do you care about that? Because being punctual shows respect for the people with whom you work. Why is that important? Because somewhere on your visionary board you strive to be a good leader. A definite philosophy helps you in identifying What you really care about. When you know what you care about then you become loyal and steady in pursuing your ultimate goal. Here it is more important to keep the resolutions you have already made than to keep making the new ones.

You are not capricious anymore.

Each day, you wake up thinking of the same set of questions you fell asleep thinking about. You are, in a sense, pointing in the same direction, ever eager to take even the tiniest step forward rather than accepting any digression. One of my core beliefs that has successfully stood the test of time:

Keep your unadulterated focus on what is in your control and accept what isn’t.

This simple belief when practised in my daily life has brought incredible increments in my efficacy, while simultaneously reducing my daily dose of frustration.

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