What?

I saw him in the weeds. Black and white tomcat. He was focused, he was poised to strike. He did not move his attention from his prey (which was, I think, a grasshopper). But he focused on his goal. And we should, too.

Many mornings I wake up thinking about ten things at once, like Aesop’s foolish dog. The dog that pursues two rabbits and gets exactly no rabbits. 

In Ancient Rome, the pagan god Pan was worshipped as the deity of the wild and the chaotic. He was the idea behind the chaos of nature, but also the chaos of destruction and confusion. 

If we’ve ever lived in a time in history marked by chaos and confusion, it’s this time. If you listen to the voices on your social media feed and the voices in the news, they will convince you that this day is pure chaos. 

But, like the tomcat, you need to focus. What is your goal today? What do you want? If you finish today having accomplished or having moved toward one thing, you will have won. Name it. Write it down. 

If you haven’t yet, you should read Gary Keller’s incredible book The One Thing. I find it convicting, haunting, and frustrating. Frustrating because I’m trying to do so much with every day. I have read it at least two times and it is a great primer on setting goals. 

In the Christian tradition, the verse goes, “Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things [the things you need] will be added to you.” And also there’s the ideas of “Keep first things first” and “First thing’s first.” (Different but the same.). And of course, the goal is to keep the main thing the main thing. 

But it’s all lost unless you know what you want. What? Identify it. Sense it in the world. See it in the weeds. Focus on it. Stalk it. Get it. 

What do you want?