Non-starters and blinkers

My wish for you is for you to have a Happy Monday.

It is not easy to stay focused and not get distracted by events, circumstances and a host of incidentals, occasions and things which are outside of our control.

There was a time when my father gambled on racehorses. On many Friday evenings whether he was at home or not I had to sit by the old transistor radio, listen and write down the tipsters take on which racehorse would win each race and also the racehorse that could likely cause an upset.

In those days the avenues for entertainment was very limited. The old transistor radio broadcasted on the AM band and there were only two radio stations. On Saturdays between 12:00 noon and 5:00 pm there  was live horse racing commentary from the race track. On the hour and every half hour there were live commentary from the race track. (Just in case you are wondering. The closest that I have been to a race horse is when I am walking on the streets and one passes that is being transported in a truck). There was no getting away from listening to live racehorse commentary on a Saturday afternoon.

There are two terms that comes to mind when I reflect on those days and these terms are non starters and blinkers. There were many other terms that were used but these two terms stand out and it took me some time to understand the meaning of the two terms. The two terms are non-starters and blinkers.

The non-starter is the horse that was listed to start in the race but for some reason did not run in the race. It is only now that I understand that there were a number of reasons why a horse did not start as scheduled in a race.

The other term which I remember is that the racehorse would be wearing blinkers. The dictionary describes this as a piece of horse tack that prevent the horse from seeing to the rear and sometimes to the sides. This allowed the racehorse to only see to the front.

You could easily ask me what has racehorses, blinkers and non-starters has to do with my life and my answer will be that they serve as analogies. I encounter so many persons in life that should have been far ahead in life but for some reason they failed to start. There are those persons who are waiting on the ideal conditions to begin and those persons who allowed others to hinder their ever making a start.

Recently I had two chapters to write to complete the first draft of a book and I was overcome by a feeling of wanting to throw away the manuscript and not bother. It was the first time that I was experiencing such a feeling and I wondered what was happening to me. The feeling was so intense that it took the years of discipline that I had cultivated to overcome it.

I have often come across persons who had spent many years studying at university and in the final term quit. I could not understand why. I also have come across many persons who during their course of study keep changing their area of study and are unable to decide what exactly they want to be. This I realize comes about because they lost focus along the way.

When I was in my early twenties I easily grasped a goal or idea and used passion and determination to create opportunities in order to get things done. Now I keep asking what have become of that passion and ardency. Why is it so difficult for me to get things done now?

The reality is that in my twenties I set big goals but they were also short term goals. Now I more often than not set long term goals. I am no longer free to be who I want to be but I must fit into the mold that society shapes for me.Society is empowered to use the forces of arms against me if I do not conform to its norms. I know that society's norm is not the best but it is designed to exploit me. Those who have never seen anything else swallow society's lies and take being exploited as the norm.

There is also the constant temptation to want to look around me and behind me and to lose focus on what is in front of me. This is one reason why I may need blinkers as is done to racehorses. I may need blinkers but I am certainly not a non-starter.

This page  is evidence enough for me that I am not a non-starter. I began this page with the hope of encouraging others to act on their thoughts and ideas. In so doing it provided for me the impetus to act on my own thoughts and ideas. These thoughts and ideas are spawning other thoughts and ideas but I am not losing focus but rather I am creating and acting on opportunities.

If you are a non-starter it is never too late to begin because your raw material is your thoughts and ideas. Some racehorses race without blinkers and you may be able to stay focused on the course but if you find that you may get distracted then get some blinkers.