THE LAW OF DISTRACTION

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“You can’t do big things 

if you’re distracted by small things.”

-     Anonymous

Let’s accept this fact of life: In a running race, a tortoise can never win, unless the hare gets distracted… Yes, distracted by his overconfidence, by his underestimation of others, and, above all, his laziness.

We all have in us something of these two famous characters – the hare and the tortoise.

Most of us are endowed with the speed and competence of the hare… and, we are aware of this strength. But, often, we are unaware of our weakness… that is, our tendency to get distracted easily.

Some of us are endowed with the focus, commitment, consistency and patience of the tortoise… And, because we are equally aware of our strength and weakness, we tend to get less distracted.

So, as the hares go off to sleep, some of us – tortoises – make it to the finish line!

The slow and steady have, always, won the race… and, the fast but distracted ones have, always, lost it.

Like Arjuna, if we set our eyes on our goals – on the eye of the bird – we shall, always, win. The problem, therefore, lies in this very first step: We haven’t set clear goals. The next step, where our problem lies, is our lack of strong resolve to win. The third step, where it lies, is the small distractions along our way… Some laziness, some over confidence and some casual attitude towards our opponents.

“I’m here to build something for the long-term,” said Mark Zuckerberg, “Anything else is a distraction.”

And, how true that is!

Anybody, who is here ‘to build something for the long term’… yes, he knows how to deal with his distractions. He knows, that he cannot do ‘big things’ if he allows himself to get distracted by ‘small things’…

Lambi race ka ghoda…  Does it ring a bell?

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: cartoonbucket.com