In mathematical terms, there is a slight difference between a formula and an equation. That’s why people won’t tell you “here’s the equation for success.”
Recently, the minister of commerce and industry, Piyush Goyal, tied himself up in knots when he got the name of the person who discovered gravity wrong.
Apart from being factually wrong, I still haven’t managed to figure out why he connected a stupendous discovery to the state of the economy but let me hazard a guess with what he actually wanted to say — when you have a big goal, minor setbacks such as a slowdown shouldn’t bother you.
In the past few years, there seems to be a war waged on facts all over the world. They are misinterpreted, misinformed and fed to people who don’t bother questioning them or who don’t care for facts in the first place.
Formulas are another thing.
In mathematical terms, there is a slight difference between a formula and an equation. That’s why people won’t tell you “here’s the equation for success.” But the fact that formulas and equations both have the = sign makes it look like they’re one and the same.
Here’s a list of famous equations that changed the world:
All of these are fixed. That is, you can’t rewrite the law of gravity or reinvent the Pythagoras theorem to suit your convenience. Over the years, countless students would have tried to rewrite equations and tried to convince their teachers that they are right, only to be met with deaf ears.
But there are only so many formulas and equations that are cast in stone.
Have you come across consultants, social media agencies, books, seminars, authors, all of whom claim to have the formula to something that you seek?
Here are some that you might have come across:
a) Make a million dollars in a month, working from home
b)Scale your startup from zero to insane valuation in 90 days
c) 30 days to happiness, success and the life you have always wanted
d) Get the life partner of your wildest dreams
e) Monetize your side-hustle and quit your sucky job in 30 days
f) Become a viral influencer in 7 days
g) Become a millionaire by 35
h) Lose 10 kgs in 10 days
While none of these are scientific, they give you their version of steps to be followed if you want to achieve whatever it is that they are peddling.
If you remove the quacks and the get rich schemes, many of these make sense to a large extent.
There are two broad reasons why these don’t always give the optimum result:
a) They aren’t easy to follow or stick to (most diet books fall in this category)
b) You don’t believe it will work for you
The second point isn’t about obstinacy but rather, it’s about feeling it’s a right fit for you. What does that mean?
I came across this TED talk a couple of back in which Suleika Jaouad speaks about her battle with cancer and the struggle to reclaim one’s old life after being struck by a catastrophic illness.
Something she said really stood out and helps put a lot of things in perspective.
“Cancer really transformed my life. I left the hospital knowing excatly what I want and what I wanted to do in the world. And now every day as the sun rises, I drink a big glass of celery juice and follow it up with 90 minutes of yoga.”
She continues “then I write down 50 things I am grateful for on a sheet of paper and that I fold into an origami crane and send sailing out of my window.”
Till she says the last part, you actually believe that she does all of those things and that cancer really overhauled her outlook on life. At this point, everyone gets that she has been leading them on and bursts into laughter.
With those words, Suleika Jaoua does something very important — she shatters the image of the life of someone who is recovering from cancer. They aren’t enlightened, don’t have bucket lists stuffed in their pockets and don’t live every moment in a zen-like state, happy to be given a second chance at life.
Most things in life don’t really have a formula or an equation. That’s because life is not a physics or chemistry or mathematics equation that can be proven.
A lot of unhappiness in the world stems because people have followed a formula that they thought would ensure them happiness, only to realize that it led them to feel empty.
Here are a few of those equations:
Fat salary + job in big ass MNC = happiness
More likes on social media = increase in self-esteem
Title +licence to abuse power = leadership
Raising 100 crores= my start-up has arrived
This age = this designation
Ivy league education = one-way ticket to success
These might work for some people.
But the important question to ask is:
Do they work for you?
Many of us take a lot of time to realize that we have the ability to make up our own formulas for the happiness and success that we are seeking and discard the ones that don’t work for us.
Want to remain small and independent and serve a small group of people? It’s fine.
Don’t want to end up like some of the managers you worked under that abused their power and heralded toxic cultures? Totally okay.
Don’t see a BMW as a sign of success? No problem.
Think selling your company is akin to selling out? Play the long game.
There is no right or wrong in these. It’s about deciding what’s right for you.
If what you’ve been doing hasn’t got you the happiness, satisfaction or success that you thought it would get, it’s okay to change the formula or equation and try a different one.
HT — The algebra of happiness by Scott Galloway
