Fire and Forget

It has been 2 weeks into the new year and I've been pursuing my daily routines as expected. I'm a creature of habit. I'm the type who works best one my own, alone. Just me give the task, I'll find a way to get it done.

In the military, they use the term 'fire and forget' for the kind of missiles which have the ability to find its target on its own. You just press the button and let the missile do the rest. Fire, and forget.

Actually the expression can be used both positively and negatively on people. If an employee is expendable, you can fire him and promptly forget about it. No loss to you. This is the opposite of the other type of 'F&F' employee whom you only have to assign a job and he'll get it done. Like yours truly. Unfortunately, ever since I've been in a position to give orders to others, I have found the negative F&F types more prevalent than the positive ones.

In software, if there's an API call or feature which allows you to fire-and-forget, that is usually a good thing. It means the system is intelligent enough to schedule and execute the task without you having to put in any extra effort to manage its execution. It means that the system has some inherent intelligence built in.

Personally, I try to apply the fire-and-forget paradigm in the spiritual realm too. I've mentioned karma yoga in many previous posts of mine. This concept is also related to the Buddhist principle of non-attachment. Do not expect to be rewarded for anything you do. But that doesn't mean you do things irresponsibly. On the contrary, a karma yogi sets his mind and body completely into the task at hand--be it a mundane task or a good deed--but simply attaches no expectation of reward to its completion: Just fire and forget.

Firing and forgetting makes life simple. Trust that the universe has an inherent intelligence to do the necessary accounting. You reap what you sow. If you do something sincerely and whole-heartedly, there's always a payoff. In a corporation--it is usually more work. The boss would obviously assign more work to those whom he can trust. There you have your reward: Trust. Guess who he's going to promote when there's a new opening?

I can hear complaints: don't these kind of workers get exploited by unscrupulous bosses too? Yes, but the situation does not last long. Nature has a way of balancing itself. A mistreated worker will inevitably find himself in another organization that recognizes his contribution. If your company does not recognize you, the industry will.

The machinations of the universe is simply too complex for our small minds to work out. In software development, you try to keep things small, self-contained and modular. I apply this principle to life in general. 'Reward' in life is a system level property. What you see are the input and immediate output. The experience of processing inputs and producing outputs is the only outcome that concerns us. If you focus on just that, the reward of work is immediate: Data, knowledge, experience.

Your job is simply to fire and forget. And let the reward missile find its way to you. Often in unexpected ways.