Goal Action Stage: IGNORE DISTRACTIONS

In this article I conclude on the topic: HOW TO ACHIEVE GOALS.

You will never reach your destination if you stop to throw stones at every dog that barks. - Winston Churchill

Three boys were set for a race and their fathers served as their motivators by staying at the finishing line and waiting to receive their boys. When the whistle sounded, they all shot up as best they could. In a short while one of the boys took an early lead, clearly having the momentum to win the race. He began to look behind him to see how far ahead of his competitors he was. Suddenly he lost his footing and his lead. The second boy hence took the lead and was in front for some considerable distance but he was too obsessed with the cheers he received from the crowd that he lost his footing too. The third boy then took the lead and won the race that he began as last. When asked what made him win he said, “All I did was keep my eyes on my Dad and ensure I wasn’t distracted by anything.”

Every time we desire to achieve a goal we will be faced with distractions. There are a thousand distractions around us. Failures in the past, fear, low self-esteem, are some of the things that commonly distract folks from their goals. Interestingly not all distractions are bad things. We could be distracted by very good things like money, fame, and success. So I would say that a distraction is anything that takes your eyes off the goal.

You must have the tenacity to keep hitting at the direction of your goal. All too often beginning is not a problem it is finishing that overwhelms us. Solomon (king of Israel) noted that, “Endings are better than beginnings, sticking to it is better than standing out.” When you have such an attitude it won’t matter what comes to you. Suddenly, no obstacle will look insurmountable, no fear will cripple, and no failure will be permanent.

Distractions will come – in fact they should come because they are refiners of character. The people that win irrespective of them are the true winners. If you can stick to it irrespective of the distractions, you will eventually be like Joseph (Prime minister of Egypt) of whom it was said, “Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the Lord tested Joseph’s character.”