After living in Los Angeles for five years, I had yet to see a coyote until last week. It was an early morning, and I was walking to the gym minding my own business, and thinking about the workout I planned to crush. I was less than halfway there when I saw an animal trotting down the middle of the street in my direction, as if it owned the pavement. I looked a little harder and realized it was a coyote. As he kept trotting, he looked at me. As I continued walking, I looked at him. In my mind, we both internally said to each other ‘just keep it moving’. I had a clear destination, and I’m guessing he did too. However, while I was on my way and on track to arrive at the gym at my desired time, a minor barrier appeared before me throwing off my focus. The thoughts that then came to mind were:
- From now on, I just need to drive.
- If I drive, then I won’t get in all of my steps for both my fitness goals and work incentives for taking x amount of steps a day.
- What if the coyote hadn’t kept walking?
- What if I see another coyote? Homie may have a whole family behind him.
While I pondered over the above questions, I realized I lost complete focus and allowed F.E.A.R (false evidence appearing real) to take over. I temporarily lost sight of my destination, and allowed my line of vision to only see the barrier directly in front of me. Once I regained my focus, I was able to pick up the pace of my walk to get back on schedule, and refocus on the goal at hand.
How often do we allow our barriers to affect our walk, because we internally think about all of the what if’s that will more than likely never happen?
How often do we exaggerate our barriers, and allow them to rob us of our focus, ultimately hindering us from arriving at our destinations on schedule?
His Plan, My Purpose 