Be Observant
SuccessAvenue
Careful attention to one thing often proves superior to genius and art.
- Cicero
Even as a young lad, Alexander the Great had a keen intelligence and perception. His father, King Philip of Macedonian had bought a prize horse. It was so wild that the best horse trainer in the kingdom was unable to handle it. Each time anyone jumped onto its back, it threw him away.
One day, Alexander had just finished his lessons with his famous tutor, Aristotle, and walked out of the courtyard to meet his father and his horse trainer struggling with the wild horse. King Philip had finally given up on the prize animal. Alexander loved the wild nature of the horse and ran to his father.
"Your Majesty," he panted. "I can handle it!"
The king laughed. "An animal the best horse trainer in the land cannot handle is what you think you can handle?" he said. "O.K., I'll give it to you if you can tame its wild nature."
When the King saw Alexander and the horse racing into the palace later in the day with an incredible display of companionship, he couldn't believe his eyes. He called Alexander and said, "You can have it if you tell me what you did to tame it."
"You told me to observe things carefully," he began. "I observed it carefully. The horse became afraid each time it was backing the sun and saw its shadow on the ground. I turned it to face the sun and started petting it. When I saw it soften, I mounted it and sped off."
Be observant. Observe and study your environment. You’ll become more successful in your career or business if you could develop the mental acuity to spot trends around you and put them to good use. Your environment is physical, social, economic, political, financial and technological. Changes are going on minutely in each of these areas.
In your physical environment, notice the changes in the weather and seasons, development of new infrastructures and the effect it has on people and their activities. In the social environment, be aware of the shifting values and priorities, evolution of new fads, population trends and possibility of social instability.
In the economic sphere, observe the trends in the federal budget, the macroeconomic policies and its effect, trends in the money and capital market, inflation and exchange rate fluctuations and consumption patterns.
In the political sphere, monitor government policies, track the shifting boundaries between the private and public sector, appreciate the dynamics of the political parties, and check the gauge for insecurity and political instability.
Now, let’s turn our attention back to the microcosm. Your health and physical well being could radically improve if you can see the connection between your life style and your state of health and vitality.
Your communication with people will be exponentially improved today if you’ll stop rearranging your thoughts or be composing what you want to say next but begin to listen when others are talking.
Listen not only to what they are saying and also try to perceive what they are not saying, or are saying with their body language. Listen attentively with love as if the other person is the most important person in the world.
The quality of your relationships will start going up the day you’ll become more observant and start separating the ones that are uplifting and supportive from others that are disruptive and a drain on your energy.
If you want to solve any problem, sit back, listen and observe. Gather information. Search for clues. If you have more information you can solve the problem at hand. The key to observation is to have a goal. Then pay attention. Pay attention to whom? Pay attention to yourself, others, and the environment. Keep an eye on the prize.
That's what Alexander did.
Careful attention to one thing often proves superior to genius and art.
- Cicero
Even as a young lad, Alexander the Great had a keen intelligence and perception. His father, King Philip of Macedonian had bought a prize horse. It was so wild that the best horse trainer in the kingdom was unable to handle it. Each time anyone jumped onto its back, it threw him away.
One day, Alexander had just finished his lessons with his famous tutor, Aristotle, and walked out of the courtyard to meet his father and his horse trainer struggling with the wild horse. King Philip had finally given up on the prize animal. Alexander loved the wild nature of the horse and ran to his father.
"Your Majesty," he panted. "I can handle it!"
The king laughed. "An animal the best horse trainer in the land cannot handle is what you think you can handle?" he said. "O.K., I'll give it to you if you can tame its wild nature."
When the King saw Alexander and the horse racing into the palace later in the day with an incredible display of companionship, he couldn't believe his eyes. He called Alexander and said, "You can have it if you tell me what you did to tame it."
"You told me to observe things carefully," he began. "I observed it carefully. The horse became afraid each time it was backing the sun and saw its shadow on the ground. I turned it to face the sun and started petting it. When I saw it soften, I mounted it and sped off."
Be observant. Observe and study your environment. You’ll become more successful in your career or business if you could develop the mental acuity to spot trends around you and put them to good use. Your environment is physical, social, economic, political, financial and technological. Changes are going on minutely in each of these areas.
In your physical environment, notice the changes in the weather and seasons, development of new infrastructures and the effect it has on people and their activities. In the social environment, be aware of the shifting values and priorities, evolution of new fads, population trends and possibility of social instability.
In the economic sphere, observe the trends in the federal budget, the macroeconomic policies and its effect, trends in the money and capital market, inflation and exchange rate fluctuations and consumption patterns.
In the political sphere, monitor government policies, track the shifting boundaries between the private and public sector, appreciate the dynamics of the political parties, and check the gauge for insecurity and political instability.
Now, let’s turn our attention back to the microcosm. Your health and physical well being could radically improve if you can see the connection between your life style and your state of health and vitality.
Your communication with people will be exponentially improved today if you’ll stop rearranging your thoughts or be composing what you want to say next but begin to listen when others are talking.
Listen not only to what they are saying and also try to perceive what they are not saying, or are saying with their body language. Listen attentively with love as if the other person is the most important person in the world.
The quality of your relationships will start going up the day you’ll become more observant and start separating the ones that are uplifting and supportive from others that are disruptive and a drain on your energy.
If you want to solve any problem, sit back, listen and observe. Gather information. Search for clues. If you have more information you can solve the problem at hand. The key to observation is to have a goal. Then pay attention. Pay attention to whom? Pay attention to yourself, others, and the environment. Keep an eye on the prize.
That's what Alexander did.
posted by Amechi at 6:06 PM
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