Right Livelihood asks us to love our world through our work, instructs is to avoid vocations that harm others. Right Livelihood is doing the right things for the right people.
From a businessman's perspective it is knowing your vision, your mission, your path and living a life consistent with that path. Who you are and who you want to be. It is the answer to the guidance counselor's question, “if you had a million dollars, what would you do?” or the hiring manager's question, “where do you want to be in 3 – 5 years?” Define where you want to be and the way that you are going to get there.
Identify your path and align your actions accordingly. Is what you are doing today getting you to where you want to be and creating the person whom you are to become? What can you do to advance? Take on new challenges and incorporate new tasks into the daily routine that give you another starting point from which to grow. If your vision is to add more marketing skills to your sales skill set, what little things can you do to market something? If speaking at conferences is where you will be, what speaking opportunities are you taking now? If aiming for larger clients is your goal, how are you building your product and team today to best address the needs of the larger client?
Make sure that you are acting not only in the best interest of yourself but also the best interest of the environment in which you are working. You help yourself by helping others. Provide fertile soil and pure rain to the garden in which you grow. Be a helpful resource to your customers, coworkers and partners.
4 Keys to Happiness
The Buddha once told laymen that there are four things conducive to happiness in this world:
1 - To be skilled, efficient, energetic, earnest and learned in your chosen profession.
Work passionately to be the best professional and expert in whatever you do. Don't sell, be a valuable consultative resource to your clients.
2 - To protect one's income and family’s means of support.
You are no good to anyone else when you can't take care of yourself. I am assuming that if you are reading this blog that you are in business and not working for not for profit, charity, or out to save the Manatee. Make sure you are paying yourself as you help others.
3 - To have virtuous, trustworthy, and faithful friends and spiritual aspirations.
Act with a good heart and surround yourself with colleagues and business partners who share similar values. You are who you surround yourself with.
4 - To be content and to live within one's means.
You are who you are and not the deals you have already closed or your next career move. Enjoy who you are and what you have while not wishing to be anyone or have anything else.
Money and Fame Will Take Care of Themselves
“Don't Be Best Friends With Pride And Vanity”
“Abandon All Hope For Rewards, Don't Expect Applause”
Monetary and fame rewards are results of what others give to us. When we base our actions and life on others then we allow them to be the masters of our fate. We act in their best interest and not ours.
Loosen the tightfisted grip on worldly values. Be centered, balanced, straightforward, calm and clear amid any temporary weather conditions. Right Livelihood is acting upon what is inside of you no matter the weather or outer circumstances beyond our control. Acting based on Right Livelihood means learning to both sit and stand erect, needing nothing to lean on. We stand up for ourselves and our beliefs and stand behind our words and deeds. We become master of our domain.
When we surround ourselves with the right people who reward us for doing what we have set out to do then we truly earn our rewards on our terms. Money and fame are not wrong but achieving money and fame based on actions that are not in line with our path and values causes conflict and false joy. To have joy within oneself without conflict is true happiness and can only be achieved by living in a way that is aligned with your path.
“If you meet Buddha on the road, kill him” - Because he must be an imposter, since the only real Buddha or divine being is within you.
There is no one else that can guide you or give you peace besides yourself. Awaken your inner guru, your inner guide – the Buddha within, the secret master comfortably ensconced forever in our own heart cave. This inner guru is non other than truth itself – our own innate wisdom and heart center's noblest intuitive understanding and love.
My Promise to Myself
In the digital advertising space, I am an advertising consultant. My job is to know my space, my industry and be able to consult with the right publishers how my solution addresses the pressing issues that hold them back.
Every Buddha needs to work. Every salesman needs to sell. I have set my path (vision & mission) and I act in a way that is in accordance with that mission and vision.
Today I will let myself just be and I will concentrate on just doing. I will let happen what is supposed to happen. I can only control what I can control and I will do the best that I can do with the resources that I have available to me.
I will not engage in destructive behavior but rather creative behavior that generate positive results. This may include educating myself on industry trends and happenings, examining the results of clients who use my digital advertising in order to create best and most efficient practices, sharing that information through blogs and tweets, and, most importantly, getting in contact with potential business partners to advance the adoption of my company's product. I will evangelize what I have to offer in order to get meetings, set demos and close deals. This is what I do since I am a salesman.
This blog post was developed based on the book, “Awakening The Buddha Within” by Lama Surya Das. It can be found: http://www.amazon.com/Awakening-Buddha-Within-Tibetan-Western/dp/0767901576
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