Rabbits

I once heard an absolutely amazing piece of wisdom; supposedly a Russian proverb, so who knows its origin. Doesn’t matter – truth is truth no matter who says it. The quote is:

“If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.”

The first time I heard that, let me tell you – it sank in. Hit me like a ton of bricks, really. I was chasing, conservatively, about three dozen rabbits at the time. I was scattered and wasn’t giving anything the attention it needed to thrive.

Few things will bring success like single-minded focus. Whatever thing you’re doing, that has to be the thing you do. Distractions are a killer.

I don’t think this means that your life has to be so narrowly focused that you have no room in it for more than one objective. Rather, I think it means that everything needs to have its place, and that place has to be respected. When you’re working, work. When you’re reading, read. When you’re running, run.

I think it also means to keep your reach within your grasp. Set attainable goals. Your goal can be “catch rabbits,” and you can be single-minded in your pursuit of that goal, and still fail if you try to do too much. I see so many people fail in their goals because they don’t start with something reasonable and attainable. They discourage themselves because they try to be a hero about their task.

Set a reasonable goal, and then pursue it with all you’ve got. If you catch the first rabbit, you can always catch another. But one rabbit – and one rabbit only – has to be your first target.