My belly....

Being unemployed (well nearly, that will happen in the next few weeks) gives you time to start thinking about your future.... and what you want out of life.... So after a good night of dreaming - I do some of my best thinking in dreams- I am of a firm belief that getting what you want out of life is a bit like starting a fire in your back yard.

Let me explain:

Suppose you have a magnifying glass and a backyard filled with dry grass. The sun is blazing when you walk outdoors. Your pitch a blanket and take out your magnifying glass. As you hold the magnifying glass in your hand, then you move it from one spot to the next.

Yes, you're trying to start a fire but due to lack of patience and focus, you can't stop changing the position the glass is in. After a few seconds in one spot, you move on to the next. Finally, an expert in the art of 'making fire' (in this case my uncle) comes to observe what you're doing. He tells you that you'll never make a fire the way you're trying to do it.

You then ask, 'Well, how should I do it, then?!'

The expert tells you to focus the magnifying glass in one spot and hold it there until the fire begins. You follow his advice and within a short time the back yard is blazing.

Now the disclaimer, I have to do this since I have a 13 year old son at home - the point of this story is NOT to encourage anyone to start a fire. The point is to suggest that people (me included) who set goals don't know how to start a fire.

They look at their list and try to make everything happen at once. They never stop to focus on the ONE goal that can generate so much heat that the other goals get accomplished, even with far less focus than the ONE.

Suppose your goals are represented by all the different places the magnifying glass was positioned. Yet, no fire from any of those place until the guy shined the glass in ONE place long enough to start the fire.

Then what happened.

After the fire began it quickly consumed the entire backyard (all the other goals got accomplished). This doesn't mean that you never focus on goal number 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on. What it does mean is that you MUST focus on ONE goal long enough to start the fire in your belly. And once that fire gets going, you'll be amazed at the extra energy you'll have for the other goals.

Time to go into the backyard - Til next time....