Keep filling your bowl,

And it will spill over.

Keep sharpening your knife,

And it will blunt.

Keep hoarding gold in your house,

And you will be robbed.

Keep seeking approval,

And you will be chained.

The great integrity leads to actualization,

Never over fulfillment.

The poem above is an English translation of a lesson by Lao Tzu who was a mystic philosopher of ancient China, and is a central figure in Taoism. I discovered the poem in a book I received couple of years ago from my sister Nadia as a birthday gift. The title of the book is “Tao Te Ching” which literally means “The Book of Way and Virtue”.

For many many days I wanted to talk to you about cluttered brain of an entrepreneur and steps we can take to bring some order in our day to day lives as we think about our failures and disappointments. As I came across this poem I realized that beyond the finite limitations of our perceptions is an infinity of time, space, energy, and matter, which, by definition, has no beginning. In this vastness of space and time, we often make decisions that sometimes we regret and mourn and sometimes we cherish and treasure.

For many of us, this thought process never really stops. The brain goes on and on and on and the next thing you know it’s that familiar 4:30 AM silence occasionally broken by proverbial keyboard strokes and clicks of the mouse.

Why is this poem relevant?

because the point Tzu makes is that “If you keep doing the same thing, you will keep getting the same results” – or—“If you keep doing the same thing, you will eventually get inferior results.”

Being an entrepreneur I can acknowledge the validity of Tzu’s interpretation.

So what should we do?

I say, do something different. Try something new. Fail it at and try it again. Sooner or later you will realize certain strategies work and certain strategies simply don’t fit in the grand scheme of what you are trying to accomplish. Being an entrepreneur you have all the flexibility in the world to maneuver and to change direction, something big corporations can only wish for.

Oh, and please do tell me about a time you tried a different strategy. What was the outcome, a success or a failure?