When I was growing up, my father always had a project going on in the house, on the house, on the cars, or in the yard. Every time we finished one project; we barely had a day to rest before another one began. Since my mind tended to wander, I would often get “turned around”, as my father would say, sometimes forgetting what he sent me to the garage or his workroom to get. He would often say, “study to make every move count.” Today when I tend to get lost in thought or distracted, I find myself saying, “make every move count Ralph, don’t get turned around.”
Perhaps I would have been diagnosed, as children are so often today, as having an “attention deficit disorder” (ADD), because I could be distracted so easily. While I could see the value of being able to focus, I did not always know how. My dad, on the other hand, was a very focused person. I can still hear him saying, “When you use something, if you put it back in its place when you finish using it, you will not make double work for yourself.”
Today, through the discipline of focus, I am learning to study and plan my moves a little better. Like a thinking chess player, I am learning to anticipate the outcome of my moves before I make them. I am learning to read the board better. I am learning to anticipate obstacles and challenges in advance, so that I can avoid backtracking as much as possible. I am learning to focus on the end goal rather than just the next move.
As I become more disciplined for success, I am learning the value of making every move count.