You Star Wars fans remember that chant from one of the Star Wars films. I have to apologize here. I HAVE seen and enjoyed all the Star Wars movies, but am not enough of a fan to remember tasty tidbits like who said it and in which episode. However, I DO remember that the speaker was exhorting a comrade to "Stay on target" and to ignore all those pesky little attacking fighters trying to blow him to smithereens!

Fortunately for most of us, the attackers we have to dodge on a day to day basis are a little less lethal. Unfortunately, they can be distracting enough to divert us away from a path to success, whether in life, relationships, or in business.

There has been an awful lot written about goals over the years, and most would agree that having a goal is paramount importance in achieving success. Even so, you might be surprised at how few people have really thought about what their true goals are, much less about how to stay on target to achieve these goals.

The other day, I was reminded of this as I walked across a large parking lot with a companion. We were both headed towards the door of a building about 100 yards away. As we walked, I noticed that my companion seemed to almost be walking into me as he veered away from the path to the door. It didn't take much to figure out what was happening. His head was down, and he was concentrating on the ground immediately in front of his feet, and never once looked at the door to see where it was in relation to his path. I, on the other hand, kept glancing at the door in the distance, and made that my object of interest as I scanned the surrounding area for possible pitfalls. I was walking towards the door, and my friend was walking, thinking he was headed for the door he had seen several steps ago, but actually veering off course again and again.

I had been taught this sort of thing years ago by my father, but the army had really strengthened it in me. Not only had I been involved in moving through areas where it was necessary to keep a fix on some distant target, but it had also been necessary to be constantly aware of my surroundings as well, gauging and evaluating as I went, and sometimes actually having to take an intentional detour around some obstacle in order to arrive at my destination. Failure to keep my eye on my target would result in my failing to arrive at it, particularly with the distractions of terrain and events to divert me from a direct path.

Once a goal, consider it a target, has been formed, whether to make a certain number of dollars in a given time, or to lose a certain number of pounds, or to clear away the clutter in the garage, we tend to get distracted by other things, events, people in our lives and lose sight of the goal that seemed so plain and easily achieved. If we let these distractions take hold, achieving that goal, when we remember it, not only seems much more difficult than when we originally envisaged it, but may actually seem to be completely unachievable, causing us to give up and experience a feeling of failure.

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