Thomas Edison certainly practised what he preached. In regard to his invention of the light bulb, didn’t he famously clarify that “I have not failed 10,000 times—I’ve successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.”

But little is known about how he managed to persevere and stay focused on achieving his goal for so long. I mean, I asked Meta AI, but its answer was so generic that it could be applied to many other inventors and their inventions. Just what V4V enabled Edison to hold on for so long?

We do know how Su Qin, an aspiring scholar during the Warring States period, stayed focused on his studies. To make sure that he didn’t doze off during his late night studying, he would jab a pointed awl - a pointed tool for marking surfaces or for making small holes - into his thigh so that the sharp pain would jolt him awake. I doubt anyone would be in the mood to sleep after seeing blood trickle down to the floor!

You probably wouldn’t want to do something so drastic to remain focused. So, your conundrum remains. How do you not be someone who only has 三分钟热度 (literal translation: 3-minute passion)? How do you fan your embers of passion and keep them burning alive? After all, the going is tough, so you must be tough in order to last.

I believe being comfortable with who you are is the key to maintaining your focus. It already takes a huge leap of faith to venture out of your comfort zone. If you are still iffy about the kind of person you are, you just gonna complicate your endeavour with a lot of baggage. You mayn’t be proud of your cultural upbringing, but you can’t just remove it like you would a tattoo. It’s already embedded in the lens from which you view things, integrated into your neural pathways and emotional triggers. Own yourself.

In fact, your cultural upbringing could be the unique Value for Value you bring to the table because the fusion of influences in your life makes you view things in your signature novel way, just like your fingerprints. You think Yayoi Kusama would rise to meteoric fame if she held back from expressing her innermost thoughts? This is why I brought in Su Qin and the Chinese proverb into the discussion. Not everyone would be intrigued by what I write, but it’s okay. I can only appeal to like-minded souls who wouldn’t mind being in my tribe.

After you sort yourself out and thrust your chest out, basking in your confidence, you need to set goals. We may think that we anchor our wills resolutely, but the reality is that we are more like bottles floating on the vast ocean, subjected to the ebb and flow of the waves, being at the mercy of the weather. However, when we begin with the end in mind, our goals thus serve as our Northern Star 🌟 and guide our way accordingly. Since we have a destination in mind, we can plan our route and divide the treacherous journey into manageable bits so that we scale one peak at a time.

My Big Hairy Audacious Goal is to create another source of income with my blog. There, I said it. Nothing to shy away from.

You wouldn’t want to fall into the trap of aiming for the world but doing nothing to advance towards your goals. Don’t let your ideas remain in your head. Carry out actions to bring your ideas to life. Consistency is the key, so you got to decide what you are going to do specifically to attain your goal and pencil it into your schedule. It would be great if you could stack this action on top of an existing habit so as to facilitate the formation of the habit. Habits are a godsend because they remove the decision-making process from your mind. It’s time and you JUST DO IT.

Unwavering focus = Value for Value + Goals + Actions. I hope my personal example has stirred something within you!