Let’s say there is a girl who worked at the same company for 8 years. She had a clear road map for her career, and she knew exactly where she wanted to go. She was sincere, consistent, and did everything right.
Then suddenly, AI disrupted the market, so her company had to lay off—and she was one of them.
Now think about what’s going through her mind. She’s not just sad; she’s terrified. She has EMIs, a family depending on her, and no backup plan because she never thought she’d need one.
And in that fear, one thought keeps repeating:
“I did everything right, and is this what I get?”
Slowly, she starts building walls around herself.
“Maybe I shouldn’t care this much next time.”
“Maybe giving my best was the mistake.”
Reflection
Now, pause for a moment. Have you gone through something like this in your life? You gave everything but didn’t get the desired result, and you lost the willingness to try that hard again.
In this article, we are going to talk about that moment—
why we break when things don’t work out, and how to come out of it without losing hope.
Because this is where most people miss their life’s work and regret it later.
To do that, we are picking one truth from the Bhagavad Gita—
a line you’ve probably heard before, but today we’ll see it in a whole new light.
Why We Give Up
If you have given up on your dream like in the example we saw, I want you to understand one thing:
“You don’t give up because you have less willpower. It’s science.”
Neuroscientists say that since childhood, our brain has been wired to connect effort with reward:
study hard → get good marks
work well → get promoted
be good → get appreciated
That is: effort = outcome.
This pattern gets reinforced again and again. So when we give something our full heart and don’t get the result we hoped for, our brain doesn’t just feel disappointed—it gets confused, because the formula it used all its life didn’t work.
You see, the brain doesn’t like being wrong. Its main job is to keep us alive, and to do that, it constantly tries to predict what’s going to happen next. It wants to know, “If I do this, what will I get?”
So when a big mismatch happens—like giving your best and still getting rejected—the prediction error feels like danger.
According to our brain, sincerity, effort, and hope are the things that brought us that danger. So it tells you:
“Don’t care next time.”
“Don’t invest this deeply.”
“Don’t give them this much of yourself.”
This is why we break, lose hope in ourselves, and give up.
That girl who got laid off—this is exactly what is happening in her brain right now.
She’s not weak. She’s not broken.
Her brain is just trying to protect her from danger. But while doing that, it is making her sad, hopeless, and unsuccessful—much like what most of us have gone through, right?
How to Break the Pattern
So, how can we not let this happen?
How can we break these patterns in our lives?
We need to change the formula in our brain from:
effort = outcome
to
effort ≠ outcome
The Gita’s Answer
5,000 years ago, the Bhagavad Gita gave us the answer.
Krishna tells Arjuna:
“You have the right to perform your action, not to the fruits of your action.”
Most people hear this and think it’s philosophical or spiritual.
But this is also a wonderful psychological tool.
Implementation Intention
I want you to remember this term:
implementation intention.
It means when you consciously decide in advance how you’ll approach something, you are giving your brain a new instruction—and your brain will follow that instruction.
It’s a simple process:
Every morning, like brushing your teeth, look at yourself in the mirror and say:
“Today I will give my best, but my worth is not tied to the outcome.”
That’s it.
Simple but very powerful.
When you do this regularly, you are changing the formula in your brain. You are rewiring your brain from being result-oriented to being process-oriented.
Result-Oriented vs. Process-Oriented
When you are result-oriented:
your brain is anxious (even subconsciously)
it constantly looks at the finish line
it divides cognitive energy:
half on doing the work,
half on worrying about the outcome
Result-orientation gives half results because you give half energy.
When you are process-oriented:
you put everything into the action itself
your brain is not paralyzed by fear
success is defined by showing up consistently
you learn, improve, and try again
your energy is focused
you are 100% involved
And because your worth isn’t dependent on the result, you are actually free to perform at your best.
Why Some People Succeed?
This is why some people succeed more in the real world.
Think about anyone you know who’s genuinely skilled at something:
Ar Rahman, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni…
They didn’t get there because every attempt worked.
They got there because they kept showing up even when the results didn’t come immediately.
It doesn’t mean they have more willpower.
They are process-oriented.
That’s what the Gita says:
You have the right to perform your action, not to the fruits of your action.
The Transformation
Effort changes you.
Trying changes you.
Staying sincere even when it is hard transforms you into someone resilient—someone who can handle anything.
The outcome is not fully under your control.
But when you are 100% in the process, when you give your best without the burden of expectation, something beautiful happens:
You become the kind of person who attracts success, not someone desperately chasing it.
Try this and let me know in the comments if something shifted for you.
I really want to hear your story.