Recently I had a chat with one of my friend, which got extended to few hours of discussions, arguments and some simple conclusions. The topics also included about how one start to feel about what to do and what not to do when we proceed towards the end of the ongoing academic course. In between, I did recollect about the ' Two Tales' which were told to our class on the first day of this 4 year undergraduate course. When I shared it with him, he told that if he ever had heard this before, he would have tried few times to answer the questions it asked and would have had a richer life experience and outlook. At least now he seems to have felt enlightened. So I thought about sharing it with others. Here it goes:
Stay Focused
It is about a flashlight, which did not have the bulb mounted in a reflector. Since the bulb protruded out with no surrounding cover, it did illuminate the entire region close to it with a faint light. But once someone did put a mirror reflector around the bulb. Now the light was available only to a smaller region, but it was bright. Many things which were not visible earlier started to became visible.
note: Everyone has the desire to be good at everything, but can't be best in everything. When you have many choices, take it with a pinch of salt. If you feel any of your choices to be incoherent with what you are looking forward to, feel free to drop it and go with the rest. "
Be good at something, that makes you valuable" - Randy Pausch.
The Real Goal
You went to a new place, where only few spoke your language. You asked the directions from many, got help from many and continued the journey. There were some rough terrain to travel, few sleep less nights, many anxious moments, many acquaintances, few friends, many opportunities to know more about you, develop yourself, help some strangers, take some risk and finally you reached a region with few shops and craftsmen. You spend some cash to buy some cloth and then went to a seamster. You managed to adjust with him, while he tried to take the necessary measurements and he is going to make you the finest dress, which was the main reason why you wanted to start this expedition. All you need to do now is to spend some more time, focused on the main goal, patiently giving your opinions and efforts, while the dressmaker crafts the dress in a way that is best suiting to you. At the same time, you came to notice that there will be a carnival in the town, which happens very rarely. But it will be the time for you to return back from this "new place" when the boisterous celebration ends. Either you can stay some more time with the tailor and get what you came for or forget about the main reason why you are here and pick up some rugs, one-size fits-all type and attend the much hyped merrymaking.
The professor continued: " Ask yourself these question, once in a while,
not to feel disappointed or frustrated about what you have lost,
but to understand that there is still hope and all you need to do in the remaining time, though very less, is to stay focused and try to embrace your real goals."
