Decision-Making Mastery: Your Key to Lifelong Success || Acharya Prashant (2022)

Acharya Prashant

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00:00I am at point A and point A, whatever it is, wherever it is, never succeeds in giving me

00:14full satisfaction. Is that true for all of us? Wherever we are, that point is never a

00:22point of complete satisfaction for us. Correct? And that's the reason we need to move to

00:32some other point. Now the question is, which other point? Which other point and what route

00:43to take to that point? That is the foundation of entire decision making. So whenever we

00:57need to take a decision, we need to be firstly thinking of where we currently are, not where

01:09we want to reach. You see usually when you have to decide, you only talk of the options.

01:17You say I have to make a decision and these are the options available and among these

01:23options I have to make a choice. Correct? So let's say the names of the options are

01:29B, C and D. And I have to make a decision between these three, B, C and D. I am continuously

01:38thinking therefore of B, C and D. Which one to choose? Which one to choose? Is B better?

01:46Is C better? Is D better? Pros, cons? And if I am picking up one of these, which route

01:54to take to that destination? The mind is totally occupied in this kind of thought, deliberation

02:04B, C, D, B, C, D, B, C, D. Sometimes C appears great and then someone comes and says no,

02:10B is wonderful, look at me. And just as you are about to decide in favour of B, suddenly

02:22D shows up as the most lucrative one and we keep just hopping from one option to the other.

02:31Living life, it could even be E, F, G, H, X, Y, Z. What is missing in this entire thought

02:40process? Right from B till Z, the entire alphabet has been covered. We are thinking of all the

02:48options possible to us. What is the one little thing that is missing there? What is the one

02:56little thing that is missing there? The first thing, the starting point, the most important

03:05thing but it is always missing because it is exactly where we are. And the eyes only

03:12look somewhere else. The eyes have no capacity to know exactly where you are. The mind is

03:20always busy thinking of the future and other places. The mind does not like to introspect,

03:27reflect and know what the current reality, the present facts are. The mind does not like doing

03:36that. The mind has much more fun dealing in imaginations. Imaginations are dearer because

03:45they make you feel empowered. No, I have so many choices. I am an empowered person. And each of

03:52the choices offers and promises pleasure. And A is not a point of pleasure. What is the definition

04:00of A we said? A is a point of dissatisfaction. We stand at A and we are continuously dissatisfied

04:08wherever we are. So A is a point of dissatisfaction and from B to Z there is the promised

04:16satisfaction of various kinds. B promises satisfaction of B kind and T promises satisfaction

04:26of T kind. But A is a point of dissatisfaction. So the mind is continuously thinking of B, C, X,

04:34Y, Z. A it will never know of. But if you do not know the very story of your dissatisfaction,

04:49the details of your current situation, will you ever be able to take care of your internal

04:57problems? If you go to a doctor and he starts prescribing you medicines without diagnosing

05:07you, without asking for a pathology report, clearly explaining your current situation,

05:15what kind of doctor would that be? So all of us are actually bad doctors to ourselves.

05:25We do not like to diagnose our current condition, but we want great medicines so that we can

05:32be healthy and powerful and beautiful in the future. But how can you prescribe yourself

05:40a course of betterment if you do not know what your current ailment is? Ailment you

05:45understand? Disease, problem. If I do not know what my current problem is, how will

05:53I have a solution to that problem? But look at the way the mind functions. The mind does

06:01not want to go into itself. The mind does not want to go into its current state. And

06:09its current state alone is the problem. The mind does not want to go into that. Because

06:14it hurts. It hurts and it requires a certain discipline, a certain watchfulness. Instead

06:22of watching what is going on, the mind wants to deal in colourful imaginations. Just forget

06:28what is going on and start thinking of the various possibilities and colours and pleasures

06:35possible. Therefore, the first step in decision making is to ask yourself, why do I need to

06:45make a decision? What is wrong with my current situation? This appears like a very obvious

06:52question but we fail to ask it most of the times. Why, first of all, is there a need

06:59to go away from A to any other place? What's wrong with A? And obviously, there is something

07:06definitely wrong with the place A. Are we together? Or are we all lost in this alphabet?

07:15Somebody is at M, somebody is at X. Are we all together at A? That's where we need to

07:20be. So, first of all, why do I need to decide? If everything is hunky-dory, perfectly good,

07:29A is my home. I don't need to move an inch. But there is something certainly wrong with

07:36A. What is my current situation? The more you go into it, the more clearly it emerges

07:45where you need to go next. And if you do not go into A and just keep thinking of possibilities

07:55and alternate destinations, you will be just entertaining yourself. You will feel good

08:02but that feeling will lead you nowhere. We talk of so many things, you know, five-yearly

08:09plans, visions for the future. You hear them everywhere, right from the ordinary household

08:15to the Parliament of India and the United Nations. Everyone is talking of the place

08:24to go to. But we do not talk as much of our real current situation and why at all are

08:36we stuck in the situation that is. There must be a reason why we are at A, right? There

08:44must be a reason. And if we do not address that reason, it is quite possible that even

08:48if you move to D, D will be nothing but another form of A. Because the reason you are at A

08:58might be an internal reason, not an external reason. Your problem might not be external.

09:06The problem usually is not external. Wherever you are at in life is because of something

09:14within you. Please note this down. Now you want to go to some other place but you are

09:21carrying the reasons why you were at the previous place firstly. Even if you go to the other

09:30place, not much will change in your life. But we want to change exteriors. I am not

09:38feeling well. The house looks dull. So what do we change? We do not change the mind of

09:47the occupants of the house. We change the paint. We change the curtains. Don't we do

09:55that? But what if the problem is right within you? If you know where the problem is, then

10:03you will know what is it that you really need to address. All our life we fight, we struggle,

10:11we strive, we want to be better. So we toil so much. Don't we all do that? Homo sapiens all

10:20work so hard in life. You go to the jungle, you do not find any other species working so hard.

10:28But we work very very hard. Animals move about just either for food or for pleasure or for

10:39mating and that's all. They don't really indulge in organized work. But we keep working almost 60-70

10:49percent of our life. But still no animal is as depressed and as dissatisfied as human beings

11:00are. There has to be a reason. This is the reason. We move from place to place without ever

11:10understanding the problem. So I want a solution, I want a solution, I want a solution. But what

11:17is the problem in the first place? That we never bother to clarify to ourselves. We just have a

11:25vague impression, all of us. We have a vague impression. And if you have a vague impression

11:32of the problem, all you will get is vague solutions. And vague solutions you have aplenty.

11:42The world is nothing but a huge marketplace of possible solutions. Everyone is selling

11:50solutions to you. And in lieu of the solutions they sell you, they charge huge amounts of your

11:58life, your time, your effort, your money, your everything. How are people able to sell all kinds

12:08of solutions to us that don't work? Because we do not know our problem. When you do not know

12:13your problem, any solution appears possible and lucrative, does it not? You pick up a GPS system,

12:25let's say Google Maps, right? You put in it the place you want to go to. Would it work for you?

12:33Would it work for you? Let's say you have connectivity and all that. Would it still

12:40work for you? It won't. It will ask for your current location. We do not know our current

12:48location. We just want to reach somewhere. And we keep wondering, but I have written it,

12:54I want to reach the states. The Silicon Valley is the place I belong to. The GPS,

13:04even the GPS happens to be wiser than most of us. It will refuse to respond. It will say no,

13:11no answer. First of all you should know where you are. Otherwise no route is possible,

13:19no movement. We do not know where we are. So everything appears a possible solution. There

13:27is a certain dissatisfaction within me and that dissatisfaction is the characteristic of point A,

13:32right? Now someone comes and says, all right, let's go watch a movie. That appears like a

13:40possible solution. Someone comes and says, let's go settle on Mars. That too appears a solution.

13:46Now think of this. Settling on Mars appears a solution and so does just going and watching

13:54a movie. Does that not tell of total ignorance about our inner state? Someone says, let's go,

14:03let's have a game of table tennis. That too appears fine. Maybe this will work. Someone

14:11comes and says, you just sleep for two more hours. You'll be all right. That too appears

14:16worth trying. Someone says, oh, you don't have a nice mate in your life. Go get a girl,

14:22go get a boy. That too appears quite promising. Maybe that will take care of the internal unrest.

14:28Then some senior comes and says, dude, all you need is a high-paying job. And once you have that,

14:37you will start feeling good within. And you say, oh, now I know. That was a problem.

14:43The world, we said, is a huge marketplace that keeps on offering all kinds of unworkable

14:56solutions. They will not work. Not because the world is hell-bent on cheating us,

15:04but because we do not know what we need. Do we know what we need? Instead of discussing

15:11where we need to go, more than half the time the energy in the decision-making process should be

15:18invested in knowing where we actually stand currently. But the mind has ego at its center.

15:27I know. I already know. Of course, this is where I am. Am I such a fool that I won't even know the

15:38ground under my feet? Of course, I know. What is it that I do not know? Oh, I do not know that,

15:44and that, and that, and that. So those are the places I need to go to and try. But this,

15:51this, my current situation, I of course know of that. I am living it. Who else will know of it?

15:58I am the master of my life. I know everything what is going on. No, sir, that's not true. If

16:05there is one thing each of us is deeply ignorant of, it is our own mind. That's the one secret

16:15hardly anyone is able to unravel. We might know of a thousand things in the universe. A day might

16:26come when science might know everything under the sun. But still, the most fundamental unit,

16:34the entity that sees everything, will remain like a black box. You know of everything,

16:43but the one that knows of everything will remain unknown. All the mysteries

16:50outside have been opened up and solved. But this black box, so internally we will

17:00continue to remain at point A. Externally, we have covered not only the alphabet,

17:08but the entire dictionary. All the possible permutations, combinations,

17:13everything meaningful and meaningless has been tried. And yet, we are in the same sad and sorry

17:21state as we ever were. A few data points for you all. The world is more prosperous today than it

17:30ever was in its history. Per capita incomes were never as high as they are today. And that's when

17:41we are talking of a population of 8 billion people. 8 billion people with the highest possible level

17:47of per capita income and those per capita incomes are only increasing at a global average rate of

17:58around 3% per year. In developing countries, the rate of increase of per capita income is often

18:087%, 8%, 9%. China actually experienced 10% for several consecutive years. The kind of technology

18:21that we have today, the power of information at our hand has no parallel in history. And we are

18:32living longer. Average age lifespans in several European countries and Japan are already touching

18:4490 years. The average fellow is living almost up to 90. Even in India, it has exceeded 75 years

18:52already. There are so many countries in the world that have almost absolute literacy now. In India

19:02too, in several states, literacy levels have now exceeded 90%. We should be very, very joyful. This

19:13should be the golden period of human existence, no? We have gone to the moon, we are going to the

19:20Mars. We have thousands of man-made satellites orbiting the earth. And you have thousands of

19:28channels available for your entertainment. Science is even trying to make man almost immortal. If not

19:38immortal, then make people live up to 150 years. There is no disease so big that man is not

19:48challenging it and trying to find a solution. Even HIV AIDS almost has a cure today. We all

20:01should be extremely delighted. Man is God. We have done that no previous generation could.

20:10And man is more depressed today than he ever was. Mental disease is today a kind of epidemic

20:28that it never was. Suicide rates today are higher than they ever were. We have more nuclear weapons

20:43ready to be fired than ever were. And we are closer to a complete climate catastrophe than

20:56we ever were. We are wiping out more number of species today than we ever were. In the last 40

21:09years, we have completely obliterated more species than got extinct in the last 40,000 years. And that

21:24might be an underestimation. If you Google, you might find that it is actually 4 million years.

21:30The number of species that went extinct in the last lakhs of years is very small compared to

21:39the number of species we have completely wiped out. They will never return in just the last

21:45four decades. What's going on? What's going on? These should be the best of times. Instead,

21:54these are the worst times man has ever faced. Not merely man, all the species on this planet. In

22:03fact, the planet itself has never faced a worse condition than it faces today. And we live longer,

22:10we have more money, we have more technology, we have more knowledge. We have more power to destroy.

22:16You asked for it, you have it. You want to reach a place, you reach faster. You want to order a

22:24good, it gets shipped faster. What is it that you want? Tell me. You'll have it. Everything is

22:31available right from B till Z. And yet we are unhappier today than we ever were. We are not

22:42only at A, we have sunk to a place below A.

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