Keep the Big Picture in Focus

Don’t ever take your eyes off the big picture. If you must make your way to the shore successfully, you’ll need to have a picture of where you are headed. This helps in so many ways. It can help you understand your current position and it will also take your mind off distractions and impossibilities.

Many years back when I was a kid, a friend asked me to accompany him to his aunt’s house. I agreed, and we started trekking. I didn’t know how far we had to walk. After walking for while I began to feel uneasy. I told him “This place seems far. I thought you said it wasn’t that far.” I told him I didn’t want to go anywhere far. But my friend was older and crafty. Every time I complained, he would point me towards a building or landmark. He would calmly say to me “Have you seen that building over there, my aunt’s house is just somewhere around there.” Immediately I stopped complaining and started thinking of a way to get to the building – because I could see it. I could see where I was headed. The structure wasn’t close but because I could see it, I somehow knew I could get there. As a kid I wasn’t even thinking about how long it would take for me to get there, since I could see it, I just knew that passing one building at a time, I would eventually get to the building my friend pointed me to. Vision is so powerful that it has the ability to draw you towards it.

Eventually, we got to the building and my friend’s aunt’s place wasn’t anywhere close. But like I mentioned, my friend was crafty. When we got to the building I asked him, “where is your aunt’s house?” He would quickly point to something else, this time, at a distance shorter than the first. “Have you seen that antenna over there? My aunt’s house is very close to it.” I wasn’t pleased, because he lied to me. But I also wanted to meet the target. I always thought, “if I can get to that antenna, then that would be it.” He kept changing the target while reducing the distance it took to reach each of them. For instance, the distance between us and the building was shorter than the distance between us and the antenna.

He had me locked in. I couldn’t turn back for two reasons. Firstly, I had trekked for so long and I felt it would be a waste to turn back after coming that far. But the second reason was always more powerful: it was the target my friend pointed me to each time. It narrowed my focus and I always wanted to reach it. Target after target we kept shortening the distance until we got to his aunt’s place.

It’s tempting to give up and sink when you are unable to see the shore because you’ve had your head buried in the waters of life. Many people give in because they can’t see how beautiful and rewarding the destination is. You need to have your eyes firmly fixed on that picture. You need to find a way to stay connected to your dreams.

Whether it is a dream, a vision, an idea, a record we want to break, a target in business or life, we always have a kind of picture in our imaginations. Find a way to keep the picture.

As a teenager many years ago I had an idea about making training videos for kids using the curriculum employed in most primary schools at the time. It was inspired by a television program I used to see in those days.

But I ignored it because I had nothing to start. No money or studio or recording device. So I left it and forgot about it. A few years later, similar videos were everywhere. It taught me a lesson.

Now, whenever I have an idea I write them down. I have a book where I write down my ideas, dreams, and visions. They are ever so fresh. Whenever I open that book I find them clearly written and the picture is ever so clear and fresh in my head. Since they are there, as I go through life, I get more ideas on how to bring them to pass.

(Written by Ekemini Robert. First published on Clurse.com Continue reading below)

Keep your ideas before you

Make sure you have that big idea penned. Put it on a vision board. Write them in a book so it doesn’t get stolen. You could even buy an item and place it in your home or office to remind you of your big dreams.

Once you have an idea, do things every day to get you closer to your big idea. Start making smaller achievements that get you closer to it.

I would have given up on accompanying my friend to his aunt’s place if he didn’t reduce the journey to smaller targets. You can do that with your big idea. You can start with smaller achievements. Get more money; more skills. Find great minds to mingle with. Start smaller firms while you work on the big company. Set smaller goals and achieve them. Some steps are going to be bigger than others. But one thing is sure, each step, each goal, each job, each achievement, each skill, gets you closer to your target.

The beauty of the destination distracts me from the pain of the journey.

Recommended article: You can’t Chase what you cannot see: Harnessing the Organs of Sight.