It is very easy to lose focus.
There are so many things out there that come bearing down on us, all day long, and from every possible direction, that we need to stay focused.
Sometimes, we get a punched in the gut. Sometimes, we inadvertently start chasing pretty butterflies, or stare a little too much at the pretty sunsets.
Don’t get me wrong.
The things that bear down on us, each, and every day, are sometimes worth doing. They are exciting opportunities. Sometimes, things we really love and want.
They call upon on us unexpectedly, and seduce us into doing something else.
A free pair of concert tickets. A free cottage get together. A great new television show. A spectacular golf tournament that helps very needy children.
We would be heartless bastards if we didn’t help those innocent little children.
Doing something creative, and in turn pursuing your dreams, requires definite mental strength, and a very sustained, relentless effort. It requires laser like focus.
The same magnifying glass will either warm a piece of kindling, or light it on fire.
Only you decide how you’re going to hold it and to what end.
The process resembles a checkout line at the grocery store.
There you are.
In possession of all the things you think you need, and all the items are safely resting in your blue cart or perhaps your black basket of dreams.
You are ready to get going. You are ready to check out.
You naturally head to the shortest line, but by the time you get there, you notice a very portly fellow who somehow managed to get there first. He has piled an impossibly large mountain of food on the tiny little belt, right before you got there, and it will take forever to wait it out.
So, you get anxious and decide not to wait.
You move very quickly.
With stealth like vision, you spot a new opening in the line at the far end of the store. The new line appears to be empty and so you turn quickly, and head in a new direction. But you discover that a very small, half blind, elderly woman, with arthritic hands, has hid herself just below the mints and chocolate bars. She was impossible to spot.
You didn’t see her, but you can clearly all her numerous and very small items, that she is slowly, and deliberately handing to the teller. One piece at a time.
You will want to scream and go back to the original line, but by now you see that the line has grown, and it is no longer your best option.
You begin to look in all directions, but suddenly, out of the corner of our eye, you sneak a peek at the portly fellow, the very same you stood behind earlier, but who now is putting his grocery bags into his rusty, old, Honda Civic, and begins to drive away.
It is probably a good idea not to move anywhere else.
Just stay in your line, no matter what.
Take your lumps. Ride it out.
Take what is coming to you.
There are many distractions in our life. As a matter of fact, there is an infinite number of them. Wonderful little things, we could all be doing, should be doing, or are tempted to start, again.
No one would ever fault us. We face the same battles. Those opportunities are everywhere. but those little opportunities are nothing more than distractions.
They are yield signs leading to nowhere.
So, stay right where you are.
Stay focused. Stay hungry. Stay foolish.
Don’t look for another line. Take your lumps.
Be grateful. Be patient.
There are many things that we could be doing, but if we always chase all the things that present themselves to us, we will end up doing none of the things that we want to do. We will never get to where we want to go. We will be forever dreaming and frustrated by our efforts.
Stay the course.
Really know your dreams.
Cut out pictures. Write about them. Tell people about them.
Make a plan.
Work the plan
Stay right where you are.
