The Power of Giving More:Arthashastra’s“Extra Fist”Principle

Today I wanted to share with you something very relevant from a text which is over 2300 years old.

This text is called the Arthashastra.

Arthashastra is an ancient text on diplomacy,

Economics,

Business,

Life,

Politics.

This was written by a person called Chanakya who was the advisor to the Chandragupt Maurya empire,

One of the greatest Indian empires.

So there's an interesting story from this text and it says if you are selling sugar,

If you are selling rice,

Whatever you are selling,

Let us say you're selling five kilos of sugar,

Somebody comes up to you,

Just put one muthi,

Muthi in Hindi means fist,

Put one fist.

So if you're selling sugar,

Somebody comes and says give me five kilos of sugar,

Give him or her five kilos of sugar,

But add one more fist.

If somebody comes to you and says give me two kilos of rice,

Put one more fistful of rice.

And what does this mean?

What is the deeper symbolism of this?

When that person goes home and they weigh the sugar or the rice,

They will be delighted because they got a little more.

Many times,

What do people do?

If somebody asks them for five kilos,

They will try to give less.

So if you give a little more,

You will stand out,

You will have trust,

You will have a brand.

People will remember you.

Oh,

This person is honest.

This person is reliable.

And many times you will not lose anything because just giving a little more,

You do not lose anything.

Giving one fistful more,

You do not lose anything.

And yet,

This is so difficult for most people to follow because most people try to do the bare minimum.

Most people,

Whether at work,

Whether in business,

Whether in life,

They are trying to get by by doing the bare minimum.

So if you give more,

If you bring in your passion,

You bring in your love and give in more,

You will of course succeed compared to everybody else.

This applies even to the modern world.

Let me share a story,

An incident from my own personal life.

When I was in college,

I have done all sorts of jobs.

I have worked in real estate,

Construction,

Sales,

Consulting.

I remember when I was young,

I must be 16 or 17 years old,

There was something in the events industry.

So it's called promoters.

What does a promoter do?

I'm not a promoter of a company.

A promoter just stands besides the product from morning till evening and gets paid for it.

So I remember a new car was being launched called the Ford Endeavor.

This was a big four wheel drive being launched.

And it was being launched in Mumbai in an area called BKC,

Bandra Kurla complex.

Today,

You have the American consulate,

The French consulate,

Big hotels like Sofitel there.

Back in those days,

It was not so developed.

And there was a stretch of land which had a lot of potholes and it was raining.

And the guys at Ford Endeavor said,

This is great because people can now test our off-roading capabilities.

This was a four wheel drive.

And all I had to do,

Go in the morning,

Eight o'clock till night,

Maybe 10,

11 and just stand beside the car.

Whoever comes,

Just take down their name,

Write down their license number and sit with them while they test drive the car.

That's it,

Nothing else.

And I was,

I loved that.

I was sitting,

I was meeting all sorts of people.

Now,

Once I was sitting in the car in the Ford Endeavor in the passenger seat and somebody was driving and he says,

This is a beautiful car.

I love it.

I want to buy it.

Can you help me out?

I said,

Of course I can help you out.

I took his number.

I helped him out.

And somehow,

When you're a promoter,

You're not supposed to sell cars.

I still haven't understood why,

But you're not supposed to sell the cars.

And in those two days,

This was a weekend event.

I ended up selling two cars and everybody around me was,

Yogesh,

Why are you selling these cars?

You are not going to get a promotion.

You are not going to get paid.

You're not going to get a commission.

You're not even supposed to sell a car.

Why are you doing that?

I said,

Because when I'm here,

I think what Henry Ford would do.

I right now feel like the owner of Ford Motors.

What would Henry Ford do if somebody came and told him,

I want to buy your car.

Will he say no?

He'll sell it.

And in those days I ended up selling two cars.

This was through an event company called Showbiz.

They gave me a letter and that stayed with them.

And today I do a lot of corporate events as a keynote speaker and just that quality stays.

And many times it is much easier to give it your best,

To do the bare minimum.

You have to put in an effort.

When you give it your best,

You bring in your energy,

You bring in your passion.

And when you keep doing your best over a period of time,

This creates a virtuous cycle.

So whatever you're doing,

Give it your best,

Your relationships,

Whatever you're doing,

Your business,

Your work,

Put one fistful more and you will be surprised what happens the next time you see sugar or rice.

Remember this philosophy,

This tenet from the Arthashastra of giving it your best.

This is Yogesh Chhabria sending you lots of love,

Lots of blessings.

Have a beautiful time and see you soon.