In the last couple of articles, we have discussed how our different roles in life, lead to the duties that we need to perform and how these duties then result in our goals. Once we have our goals we are ready to perform the actions.
Chapters 3-5 of Bhagavad Gita focuses primarily on karma yoga or “union with work”. It extolls efficiency in action and the right attitude to do the right work. Practicing this perfection in action not only ensures that we perform at our peak capability, but do so in a manner that does not make us dependent or attached to the actions. The following quote by Lou Holts, a former football player and coach, captures this sentiment when he says that “Ability is what you are capable of doing, motivation determines what you do, and attitude determines how well you do it.”
We start by exploring Verse 50 from Chapter 2 of Bhagavad Gita to understand the efficiency in action.
Efficiency in Action - Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 2-50
बुद्धियुक्तो जहातीह उभे सुकृतदुष्कृते | तस्माद्योगाय युज्यस्व योग: कर्मसु कौशलम् || 2.50||
buddhi-yukto jahātīha ubhe sukṛita-duṣhkṛite tasmād yogāya yujyasva yogaḥ karmasu kauśhalam
One who prudently practices the science of work without attachment can get rid of both good and bad reactions in this life itself. Therefore, strive for Yog, which is the art of working skillfully (in proper consciousness) (2.50)
In this verse Krishna emphasizes the “science of work”. The key elements of this science are
Attitude: The attitude one needs to have while acting is elaborated in this verse. The attitude we need to practice is to perform the actions without attachment: The attachment here is our attachment to the outcome of our actions, which is in the future and also the anxiety of our performance or ability before we start the action.
Focus: The focus one needs to have when acting. We are urged to become one with the work we are doing - fully conscious and absorbed and engrossed in the work.
Attitude towards work: The story of splitting stones and cleaning toilets
There is a great story that illustrates the attitude towards work. In ancient India there was a King who was building a great temple. He wanted to make sure that the temple was built with utmost care and had the best sculptures in the country. So he employed a number of sculptors, artists, temple builders, and designers. One day he decided to inspect the construction of the temple and went to the location where the temple was being built.
On his way he met a worker who was chiseling a huge rock. The King asked him what he was doing. The worker replied that he was cutting stones. He seemed exhausted and drained. The King walked further and saw another worker who was doing the same - chiseling a huge rock. When the King asked what he was doing, the worker replied that he was working to earn a livelihood so that he can feed his wife and two children. He seemed satisfied, but tired. The King walked further and saw another worker and asked him the same question. The worker replied that he could visualize a beautiful maiden within the rock and was chiseling the rock to reveal the beautiful maiden for all to see. He seemed really happy and excited to talk to the King.
The moral of the story is that the attitude with which we undertake our work matters. Clearly the third sculptor was engrossed in sculpting, but was working with the attitude of working on something much larger than his immediate action for the good of society. The second sculptor was working with the attitude of feeding his family - nothing wrong with the attitude - but was limited to his own family. The first sculptor was probably working diligently but his attitude was focused on merely cutting the stone. It could be argued that moving from the first sculptor to the third sculptor the goal of the sculptor was higher - from individual to family to society. Assuming that the third sculptor doesn’t become proud and arrogant with his skills the attitude of being involved in something with a higher purpose liberates us to put in our best without worrying about the consequences of our action.
It is easy to dismiss such stories as impractical and not really suited for our modern day living. In his TED talk on Measuring what make life worthwhile, Chip Conley, an entrepreneur in San Francisco recounts his experience with one of his workers in a inner city motel that he owned. Viviam, who migrated from Vietnam, was working as a toilet cleaner in his city motel. He recounts how she was always very diligent, strived to satisfy the customers who came to the motel and make them feel “at home”. Being an immigrant to the country she realized what it means to be away from home. This simple attitudinal shift made her carry out her tasks with a much bigger purpose. Chip Conley ends with this great quote that is an excellent message for all of us.
“We count numbers. We count on people. What really counts is when we actually use our numbers to truly take into account our people.”
Focus and the power of habit and vasanas
Ralph Waldo Emerson has said that “The reward for a thing well done is having done it”.
This shifts the emphasis from the outcome or reward to the action itself. Gita also urges us to focus on the action and excel in how we execute our action. But how do we excel in something. Will Durant, once said “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” How do we achieve this excellence and how many times do we have to do an action to excel at it.
In his book on Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell quotes the neurologist Daniel Levitin, when he introduces the concept of ten thousand hours or the practice time required for anyone to become a world-class expert.
“ The emerging picture from studies of expertise is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to reach the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert. In study after study of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals and what have you, this number comes up again and again” neurologist Daniel Levitin”.
Many have argued that fewer than ten thousand hours is required to become an expert. Irrespective of the actual number of hours of practice, it is clear that one needs to practice to become an expert; and practice at this scale needs to become a habit.
Charles Duhigg, in his book The Power of Habit introduces the 3-step process of cue-reward-routine to change habits. When you want to change one habit with another look for the cue of the current habit. One can get to the cue of a habit by answering these five questions: what time is it? Where are you? Who else is around? What did you just do? and What emotion are you feeling. One or more of these will be the same when you feel the urge. That factor is the cue.
The next step is to understand the craving that your habit satisfies and experiment with alternative rewards that can substitute for the current reward. Once you have found such a reward you can go to the third step and substitute a new routine that is triggered by the same cue, but now has a different reward. In this way one can substitute one habit with another. For example, let’s say I want to reduce my caffeine intake and bring down my four cups of coffee to three cups a day. I notice that every day at 3PM I go to the Starbucks store near my office. That is the cue. Now I can try alternative rewards to substitute this habit. I might try substituting coffee with an alternative drink like a Lemonade or I might try walking around the block to get some fresh air without getting any drink. I substitute this routine instead of my 3PM coffee drinking routine.
The habit formation technique can be used to substitute undesirable habits with more desirable habits or can be used to develop new habits. However, it is more than habit formation that leads to perfection. Initially when we do a task that requires great skill we are incompetent at the task and also unconscious on how we execute it. The first step we need to practice is to become more purposeful and conscious of what we are doing and how we are doing it. This results in us being consciously incompetent. Being repeatedly conscious will enable us to become more competent at the skill and move towards conscious competence. Eventually, with enough practice we will be unconsciously competent. For example, remember the steps you took when you learnt how to ride a bike. You probably fell a couple of times trying to balance - you were unconsciously incompetent. Then you practiced balancing consciously moving from incompetence to competence. Now you can ride a bike effortlessly and your unconsciously competent.
Key Takeaways
Efficiency in action comes from (a) Right attitude; (b) Yoga as skill in action and (c) Yoga as evenness of mind
How to create a habit (a) Cue-Reward-Routine (b) Four stages of learning: Unconscious-Incompetence; Conscious-Incompetence; Conscious-Competence; and Unconscious-Competence
Exercises for the week
Pick a habit that you want to change & try changing it with a new routine
Pick any action from the first three stages of learning; Determine what you will do to move it by one level up