Success vs. Joy
- XLVIII -
It is the Spirit that Matters
I love billiards much more than snooker. If, hypothetically, I had started making a lot of money playing snooker rather than billiards – since there is a certain degree of similarity in the two games – I might have been tempted not to play the game I really love. In such a situation, if I did not have the guts to give up snooker and instead concentrate on playing billiards, I would have been bound by golden handcuffs.
Venkat Krishnan is a graduate of IIT and IIM (Ahmedabad). He gave up a lucrative career in the corporate sector to start and manage a school. He felt he was making a difference by enabling kids to get a better and more meaningful education. He later left and started an NGO called GIVE (Giving Impetus to Voluntary Effort) which tries to generate a sentiment of charity among people who have plenty. What drives him? Why does one find him always enthusiastic and always working tirelessly? He is engaged in an activity that gives him satisfaction. He works out of an office located in a down-market industrial estate in Mumbai. He takes home a small stipend, still lives with his parents, owns a few simple shirts and a couple of pairs of trousers, and travels by train, bus or rickshaw.
Venkat enjoys every single minute of what he is doing. He once asked me to participate in the Mumbai Marathon to raise funds for an athlete who was going through hard times. I met him after the run and handed over the cash I had raised. He was overjoyed. Venkat believes that for a person to be happy, he has to simply create options for himself.
For me, it is people like Venkat who are successful. They have done something well and have found their sweet spot in the activity they indulge in. They may not have money, fame, or power…but they don’t care. To them, joy is far more valuable.