How To Focus: A Short Story

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For those having trouble focusing like we all often do (especially me). This little story might help.

In the Mahabharata Arjuna is being taught archery by his guru(teacher) along with the other Students.

The guru Dronacharya hung a wooded crow, from a tree branch and then summoned his students. Telling the students to aim for the crows eye but first to explain what they see. The first student approaches and the teahcer asks the student "What do you see?" the student says "I see the garden, the tree, the flowers, everything!" The teacher asks the student to step aside and not to shoot. He asked the next student and was told something similar "I see the air and leaves blowing in the wind.." The guru Dronacharya asks a few more students and they all have similar replies.

Then came Arjuna, when Arjuna was aksed what he saw he said "The only thing i can see is the crows eye". Guru Dronacharya said "Release your bow" and Arjuna hit the crow in the middle of his eye.

I hope that with a little reflection you can see how powerful yet simple that story is. Use it next time you need to focus.

-Andrei
#mind warriors #focus #short #story
  • Good story, and good reminder. thanks.
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    • Yeah, i think if you read between the lines the story not only highlights plain old focus, i think it may be even deeper than that.

      I think the story points to that Zen like state that athletes refer to as "The Zone".

      Can you imagine how much farther you would be, if in as many moments as you can throughout the day, you are residing in that spot and working from that place?

      It is profound.
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  • very good story! nice and inspirational! Where did you get it from?
  • Thank you for that - very interesting.
  • Very cool ... I love stuff like this ... and similar stories from different cultures too!

    Arjuna - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    • [1] reply
    • Got it from the Mahabharata itself. I think someone has already posted a wiki link.
  • There used to be a TV show called Mahabharat based on these stories.

    Here's a clip, about 20mins in there's some archery-based wisdom

    Mahabharat Episode 22 - With English Subtitles - YouTube
  • Great post, really make sense...thanks!
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  • yes all the rest i don't really see just the crows eye
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  • Thank you for sharing.
  • great story. wanted to share a youtube i love that talks about focus it's tony robbins Power of Focus www .youtube.com/watch?v=QcSSxxLpq3M
  • @Andrei, a warrior by the name of "Neoglitch" sent me here from my own thread http://www.warriorforum.com/mind-war...y-focused.html

    This is seriously a great story and I thank you for sharing it

    Once I got to the first person, I was like what the heck lol. But it makes a lot of sense. People tend to look at everything surrounding them when doing something instead of just focusing on that one goal.

    Again, thanks for the story
  • Excellent post... I have to get my culture reminded. I took it this way to my head:

    I'm Arjuna with a goal to build my internet/affiliate company to a multi-million dollar a year business in the next few years (I'm 18... So it is hard to think for me in terms of decades).

    My guru asks, "What do you see?" - I see my company making 10 million dollars a year...
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    • Nice ... good focus ... one thing though - "few years" is what exactly? Maybe it's hard to think in decades, like you said, but a goal without a specific time frame doesn't work either. That is good focus, but break it down into smaller pieces ...

      Like, "I want my business to make $10,000 per month by the end of 2011" and so forth (for example) ... that way the sum of the parts will add up to the total goal ...

      Project Management strategies have similar ideas just like this which is where my work is, so I take what I can from work to apply it to anything

      HTH
  • This story is a great reminder that there is so much in our peripheral line of focus that can easily sway us from our objectives.

    It's a difficult discipline to master, especially in the IM industry where there seems to be a new magic bullet method come out everyday which relates to the trees, the birds singing, the scenery etc.

    If you can keep focused on the ONE target and ZONE-IN whilst blocking out the ever-tempting surroundings you'll go far.

    ~Russ
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  • Yeah.. I think we have so many such inspirational thoughts from every mythology.. Just need to dig a bit.. Thanks anyways
  • It moves me a lot . thank you .
  • Great story. thanks for the share.
  • I love this story! Have any other stories of Mahabharata to share?!
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    • It's a nice story worth sharing! We just need to be Arjuna... Despite of the things that are getting our attention, we need to have !

      Thanks for sharing!
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  • Very interesting story....thanks
  • moved me... very nice....
  • Indeed it change my perspectives, so cool story, I love it!
  • Nice story Thanks for sharing...

    Fix our eyes to what needs it...stay focus!
  • Definitely this story make sense. I really love Indian story, especially when the topic is about the teaching of life, being calm and radiance, other thing about Buddhism.
  • very nice story thanks for the share....
  • It amazes me that people are as talented as they are. People really are capable of doing amazing things.
  • That's a great story on the importance of remaining focused. I always love reading these types of examples to get me motivated when I'm feeling a little out of sorts
  • Very inspiring and valuable thanks so much for the post
    All the Best
  • An inspiring story, thanks for the share.
  • very interesting story... thanks for the share
  • Thanks a lot for this inspiring history, It is right we need to Focus is we want to succeed, it will save much time for us.
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    How To Focus: A Short Story

    For those having trouble focusing like we all often do (especially me). This little story might help. In the Mahabharata Arjuna is being taught archery by his guru(teacher) along with the other Students.