Find your goal, focus and just do it

Here is a story: "Dog mind, lion mind" Everything is ultimately your choice. This is a very beautiful analogy in Zen. Picture there is a dog in front of you. And you are throwing bones for it to catch. For every bone you throw, the dog jumps with over-the-top enthusiasm and runs to catch it and get it back to you. Do this 1 time or a 100 times. The dog will treat every bone you throw with the same excitement level.

Now, (for some strange reason), imagine a lion sitting in front of you. Throw a bone for the lion to catch. It will look completely disinterested in running behind the bone you throw. Why? Because forget the one or two bones you throw, the lion can see an entire bag of bones in front of it. That is you. It does not follow the bones you throw, because it can see the bigger picture in front of it. Its focus is to eat the entire you, not the tiny bones that you throw.

If something, (e.g., Donald Trump’s weird hairstyle or your friend’s WhatsApp status) catches your attention and distracts you, fair and good enough. It only proves you are human. It is but natural to get distracted. But it is at this point that you have a choice. You can either follow and run behind everything that distracts you (e.g. texting and asking your friend why he/she came up with such a break-up type status), like the dog. Or you can choose not to chase trivial things keeping the bigger opportunity in mind, like the lion. Keep your focus on the bigger things. See the greater picture.

Being harsh with your mind and commanding it to focus will get you all the more distracted. Rather explain gently to your mind why finishing this particular chapter you are reading now is more important than browsing through weird selfies of your partying friends on Facebook (even though the latter seems amusing). Concentrate on the benefits of keeping yourself focused on the less interesting task at hand.

I came across this exercise of writing out my biggest goal and the steps to achieving it while reading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill and decided to give it a shot. I love this exercise because it forced me to write out my goal in words, state the sacrifices I would have to make, determine a deadline, and construct a tangible plan that will help me achieve my goal. Since I read this sheet aloud twice daily, I’m constantly reminded of my goal and the steps I need to take to better position myself for success.

Now, I think we fail to reach our goals for three primary reasons. We don’t have a tangible plan. How can we reach our destination without a detailed map? It’s easy to say that I want to become a doctor or I want to go to Harvard Med. However, without a plan of action, the chances of succeeding are very slim. Therefore, writing out our goal and the steps needed to achieve it is essential. We quit when shit gets tough. Having the faith to pick ourselves up after we’ve been beat up or even knocked out is vital.

We lack self-confidence. I sometimes catch myself thinking that I could never do XYZ. I think that I’m not smart enough, strong enough, etc. Over time, I find myself believing those negative thoughts, even though they aren’t true. If we truly believe we can succeed and can block out the negative lies, we will be one step closer to achieving our goal. The question now is how can we stay focused on our goals? Personally, I have centered my life around my goal above. Everything I do in my day, from school work to conducting research to volunteering, is centered around this goal of being accepted to a strong goal oriented person. My goal isn't a side project that I work on every so often. That never works. Instead, I’m living and breathing my goal every single day, which I believe is the best way to stay focused and eventually succeed. Cheers!