What is your next goal? How focused are you on what you need to focus on in order to achieve it? What is distracting your attention from achieving it? It does not matter what your next goal may be, let it be the focus of your attention all the time. Do not be like the proverbial Mr Tortoise that travelled to a very distant land in search of a bride but found himself distracted by some other trivial short-term interests and lost the bride to a more focused and determined suitor.
According to the tale, several weeks after his arrival in the town, Mr Tortoise was still unable to find the right bride. Shortly before he decided to return to his hometown, Mr Tortoise spotted a beautiful young girl of his dream. Meanwhile, Mr Squirrel had also arrived in the same town. He too was in search of a bride.
Without knowing, both of them had been dating the same girl. She was the dashingly beautiful daughter of a wealthy local goldsmith, Mr Rabbit. Both Mr Tortoise and Mr Squirrel, in their separate milieu, had been looking forward to meeting Mr Rabbit, their future father in law.
As part of knowing-me-knowing-you tradition, Mr Rabbit decided to invite Mr Tortoise and Mr Squirrel to his house at the same time. On the day of their meeting, Mr Tortoise was the first to arrive. Mrs Rabbit had gotten the dinner table ready for the august visitors. They welcomed Mr Tortoise warmly into their palatial house and asked him to join them on the table for the special dinner. Without hesitation, Mr Tortoise had settled down on the table ready for the food to roll in.
Shortly after, while Mr Tortoise was still relishing the aroma of the delicatessen in high expectation of having a taste of the deliciousness of the food already set on the table, Mr Squirrel also arrived. He also received a warm welcome from Mr and Mrs Rabbit who invited him to join the family on the table. Mr Squirrel thanked his hosts for his enormous generosity but explained that he would have loved to join them for dinner but that would be after he was allowed to explain the purpose of his mission to the house.
He explained that since he arrived in the town and had set his eyes on their daughter, he promised himself never to taste any food or drink until he had met the parents of such a beautiful queen. He insisted he would neither eat nor drink until he had gotten their approval to marry their daughter.
Mr Squirrel had not stopped speaking when Mr Tortoise sprang up from the dinning chair shouting at the top of his voice saying that it was for the same purpose he had come to visit the family. What Mr Tortoise was saying did not amuse Mr Rabbit who instantly went to his daughter, gently held her hand, led her slowly to Mr Squirrel and gave her to him as his bride. What a successful conclusion for Mr Squirrel and a sad ending for Mr Tortoise.
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