“When we are focussed we can achieve any damn thing under the sun, however when we are not, achieving even the smallest of task will seem relatively difficult.” – Tejas S Mishra.

An individual if focused and with proper direction has the ability to move mountains. We all have the ability to achieve greater heights but at times we lack focus and unfortunately the lack of focus does not help us go anywhere in life, at least not in long run. It’s as they say, dreams aren’t what you see while you are asleep, rather they are what doesn’t let you sleep. All the greats in the history of mankind were focused to achieve their goals and had a proper direction to follow, and that is the very reason they went on to become all-time greats to begin with. Franklin Roosevelt once lacked focus, man was going absolutely nowhere in his life but once he became focussed, he near single-handedly changed the face of history and led USA valiantly through the crisis of great depression as the 32nd president of United States of America and registered his name in the history books as an all-time great. Anyone who has the courage to dream big also requires to have the due amount of discipline and right amount of focus so that they stick to their path and keep going ahead without getting distracted, Matin Luther King Jr. once famously said and I quote, “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”, they all tell you that focus is everything and to achieve greatness we must remain focused in life and at the same time we must have a clear direction, for we have come this far, not only to come this far.

It’s very important to understand that human brain is the most fascinating organ in all of human body; it’s what directs your entire routine from A-Z, in life anyone can give you direction and at the same time you can give direction to anyone, what is important is to have a vision and trust in the process, experience is very important but we must also respect human instincts. Similarly the term called “focus” is what helps you achieve your goal because unless you are focused, you won’t be able to plan things properly which then means you are unable to differentiate between things which are very necessary in order to get the job done and the things you can avoid doing because they may end up wasting your energy as well as your precious time, so the chances of success are very less and then you become demotivated when you do not succeed and rather than being able to study the reasons why you failed, you start blaming everything and perhaps everyone around you and you tend to become comfortable with giving up instead of realizing that you never were prepared enough and unfortunately or rather fortunately for all of us, without taking efforts we just cannot achieve long term success, we may succeed at short term at times but these successes helps us go absolutely nowhere and rather makes us complacent and we start accepting mediocrity as a parameter for success which is even more dangerous and disastrous than trying hard and failing, hence we must understand that we must always be focused. Direction is equally necessary so as to have a proper direction and clear approach as to what we want to achieve, from smallest of task to biggest of them all nothing will be a success if not for proper direction.

I remember early 2017; it was my final semester exams for my graduation course, Bachelor of Computer Applications-BCA. It begun with practical and project exams and in both of them I secured 98 out of 100 marks but one and half months prior to that exam, on my birthday on 25th February I was celebrating with my friends and we watched some cricket match, we also went out to play cricket, I celebrated with my teachers in morning in my college, I gave my all friends treat and all such aspects as you may realize a birthday boy must do however in afternoon same date preparatory practical exam was held just for the students to self-analyse and there I found out that I’m not yet prepared for the final practical exam and that I lacked proper focus, even direction. I ended my day with my friends and also discussed with them their plans for exams and I tried to formulate a clear plan how to focus on my practical exam and from that day I started giving 2-3 hours each day of mine to my practical’s alone and I created a weekly routine that each Sunday I would test myself as per whatever I prepared for first 6 days of each week since then. Week after week I started getting better and the proper focus helped me not get distracted and it acted as the catalyst in my journey towards excellence. My direction was clear and I knew that one by one I’ll be covering all the topics and will touch upon other subjects in the meantime. I was in love with each and every moment of the process and recalling them brings smile to my face even to this date. My preparations helped me in getting 98 marks in both practical’s and project exam in the final semester of college graduation and it is certainly something I will be talking about with people I know and those I get to know in the future.

Getting 392 out of 400 marks in practical’s + projects in the final of year of graduation was something like a dream come true back then for me. It’s less about the number of marks obtained and more about the satisfaction of seeing my hard work turn into results where I was dedicated and was also able to guide my other friends whenever they needed any help both while preparing for practical’s or project exam but nothing would have been possible without proper focus and direction. Without the proper discipline and hunger to succeed my dream would have simply remained a dream. In that entire year I helped my several friends in their projects spending sometimes my entire evening in their home/room to clear their doubts. I used to spend extra hours in college, practical hall with friends who needed me out there, in that process I was also able to better myself with constant practice and summarization. Better results require that much more effort and resilience and one thing about me is that I enjoy working hard and lack of effort does not exist in me. I believe if not for proper direction, a man would lose sight in matter of few seconds and once you lose sight, it does not get any worse. Hence I say, focus and direction helps us achieve wonders.

The then Indian Captain MS Dhoni in the year 2013 was looking forward to win 3rd ICC Trophy for India as the captain and leader of the team, when India arrived to England looking forward to win the ICC Champions Trophy Tournament for the first time in their cricketing history, they had come as close in the past as any other team could have back in 2002 under the leadership of SC Ganguly, however weather played spoilsport and the final match got washed out twice resulting in India and Sri Lanka sharing the final and in that process the championship, it had been 11 years since then and MS Dhoni and his boys had the opportunity to create history. MS Dhoni, the captain was focused and he backed the youngsters. He had a clear goal to go out there and lead his team to tournament victory. India headed into the tournament having won the bilateral ODI series against England held in India, however we all know the pressure it brings when we compete in a world tournament competing against the top teams across the globe and Indian team was relatively inexperienced but they all had the hunger to stand victorious and they were led by arguably the greatest tactical captain the game had or has ever seen in the form of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. India performed incredibly well throughout the tournament and qualified for the final match against England by defeating Sri Lanka in the semi-final match. In the final match MS Dhoni’s tactful leadership and decision making helped India secure the victory out of nowhere under pressure, in that process MS Dhoni also became the first ever and the only captain till date in cricketing history to win all the ICC Tournaments as captain. His through leadership, direction and focus was the catalyst that allowed the young Indian players to play freely and express themselves. Hence we understand that to achieve excellence and success we must always be focused towards our goal and we must have a proper direction. When we are prepared and we give our honest efforts, results often go our way.

I, Tejas S Mishra thank y’all, the Elephant Journal audience and other people for reading my article. This is my fourth article for Elephant Journal and I thank them for giving me an opportunity to express myself and do what I love so much, to write and express myself.