How could your business be effortless?
Life is not effortless. Life is about struggle.
Or maybe not…
When I think of the word effortless I am reminded of the Daoist concept of Wu Wei.
Wu Wei means “no doing”, “effortless action” or following The Way.
According to Daoists “The Way never acts yet nothing is left undone”
What does this mean in practise?
It’s about flow and freedom.
- Flow: a natural sequence of actions that doesn’t push
- Freedom: not held back or shackled by expectations or beliefs
An elegant analogy that captures the essence of an effortless life for me describe a flowing mountain stream.
- The stream makes not effort to flow
- It surrenders to gravity
- It expends no energy but is always in motion
Rocks and boulders may get in the way but the stream doesn’t try to push them aside, it just flows around them.
The stream has no plan.
Just a general intention.
To follow gravity.
It doesn’t try to do anything else.
It just behaves like a stream.
How does this apply to our lives and our work?
- be present
- accept who you are
- surrender to what life presents to you
- flow around challenges
- don’t wish for things to be any other way
Life then becomes effortless as you’re no longer struggling with what is.
So…
How could your business be effortless?