Have you ever had the feeling of missing out while working on something important? It can be as simple as organizing your desk to attending a social event.

The truth is when we are working on our big goal we must give the importance it requires. It must be given time and our best effort. While doing so we expect the world to pause. In reality, there is no pause button for the world. As we give more time to the goal, more things will pile up and pressure to stop all of it increases.

While giving a goal your full priority, other things and people may not be in it but they are still important to us. How do we deal with this dilemma?

Lesson From: “The One Thing, The surprisingly simple truth behind extraordinary results”

Firstly we must accept it as a source of distraction. Our brain does not like to work very hard. It finds alternatives with lesser effort. So sometimes organizing our desk is easier than preparing for a tough exam. This leads to wasted time and energy. The resources we spent doing these things will feel productive but that is an illusion.

In my previous posts, I have shared why you should schedule your most important work as early as possible in the day. But not all of us are available at that time. We might have old parents to look after, household chores to do, kids or younger siblings to take care of or some other commitments.
"The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook" - William James
Key is to identify what things can be overlooked. Things that do not affect your priority, mental and physical health can be done later. It can involve organizing your file or being up to date with current events.

Things that can not be overlooked should be dealt with smartly. If you have to look after kids or your parents in your most productive hours, involve them to help you out while you are focusing on the big goal.

Make sure you are not playing the victim card. Never give circumstances as an excuse for not being able to work on your dreams.
“When you argue for your limitations, you get to keep them”

The last idea I would like to share from the book is when we are working on our dreams, we should keep in mind that after achieving it we will have the opportunity and the income to deal with small unchecked chaoses it is creating. You will have contacts and resources to handle your professional and personal life.

To quickly summarize this lesson…
  • While working on our big goals we should not fear the chaos that it will bring. It is supposed to happen and is natural. 
  • We should identify what things can be overlooked. 
  • All of us have different situations and conditions. We should plan accordingly and see how we can turn these situations in our favour. 
  • We should avoid being a victim and focus on taking charge of our life.
  • After we have achieved our goal we will be able to handle these things with the opportunity and income it will provide.
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