Out of Sight, Out of mind…!!!

“Dream is not that which you see while sleeping it is something that does not let you sleep.” ― A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

As Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam once said, dream with your eyes wide open not while you sleep because the dreams that don’t let you sleep will take you to success not the ones that you see while sleeping.

I remember Virgin Founder Sir Richard Branson once said on making key notes on a daily basis. He often writes about things that are on the top of his mind and finishes them on time. As writing down the important things increases the probability to accomplish the particular task and have fewer chances to forget or let go of the important activity.

Since then I have made it a cardinal rule to jot down all the important tasks I ought to do each day but there is a condition attached to it – If you don’t accomplish the initial tasks on time then the motivation to do the balance tasks reduce.  We have to be rational while doing so because only we know our capabilities better.

What we really want in life often gets overlooked by not-so-important rather confusing things. In our busy life there is so much of hustle bustle everywhere that we inadvertently forego what we actually want. In the end most of us realize that we were after things that appeared to be nice but have zero satisfaction. For example most young kids dream of a well-paid job not a satisfying career. In the end result, those ignorant young lads, even after clearing their post graduation, have no clear idea about their life goals. What’s on the top of your mind, you attract that first as the Law of Attraction also suggests.

“What We Think, We Become.” ― Buddha

Here is a short story to give a better view….

Once a group of a well recognized Institute’s alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university Dean. After discussing for few minutes the conversation soon turned into complaints about stress at work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the Dean arranged the large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, some plain-looking and some quite exquisite expensive looking. He then asked them to help themselves to hot coffee.  When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: ‘If you notice, all the nice-looking, expensive cups are taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is quite normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and your stress. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the better cups and were eyeing each other’s cups.’ The real thing you desired for went out of your sight and here you are whining about your self-deprecating careers woes and unhappy lives.

Now, if happy life is coffee, then the jobs, money position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain ‘Happy Life’; they don’t change the quality of life. At times, by concentrating only on the cup and failing to put our eyes on the real things, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it.’

This is what most happens with most of us; On the contrary, what we really want must be visible clearly and precisely. Sometimes while concentrating on peripheral things we tend to change our path which ultimately changes the meaning of our life.

Think about it. And don’t forget to smell the coffee. Life is too short to waste on things that look good at the first instance but have an adverse effect on our lives.

Now to refresh you all, I have this wonderful question to ask:

If two people want to climb a mountain together, what’s the most important thing they need to get to the top? Is it equipment? Or training? Or teamwork? Or favorable weather conditions?

Well, they need all of these for sure. But the most important thing is:-
…

…

…

The Mountain itself. They need a clear goal.

Management Guru Peter Drucker made the point in yet another way:
“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.” DO THE RIGHT THINGS…