Single-Mindedness

Single-Mindedness

1988 2 February 13 Single-Mindedness (216) No worthwhile goal can be achieved in life without the kind of single-minded devotion to its pursuance which cuts out all other trivial interests.

In an interview published in The Times Offspring * (March 26, 1987) the well-known writer and journalist, Khushwant Singh, was asked how it was that he, a media man, was so against television. He replied, “well, I am against my viewing it. I had a set in Bombay at my residence and, as a result, I could not concentrate on anything else. I would simply switch on the T.V and see the programme being transmitted, whatever nonsense it might be. So I told the television company to take it back, since I prefer to read and write.”

Mr. Khushwant Singh, in doing so, displayed a strong sense of priority. Any man with a purpose in life has to develop this awareness of priorities if his efforts are to be crowned with success. No-worthwhile goal can be achieved in life without the kind of single-minded devotion to its pursuance which cuts out all other trivial interests.

First, one must clearly identify one’s objectives, place them in the correct perspective and then focus one’s entire attention on them. These are the indispensable preconditions for ultimate success.

* A supplement to The Times of India