The importance of focus/balance

I met with old college friends this afternoon. Of particular relevance was my meeting with an old friend after 16 years today. It felt great to see him in person after so long. We got busy catching up on each other's lives, and getting updates on what we had been up to over the last decade & a half; and the best thing was that I felt like we were just taking off from where we had left off 16 years ago; as if, it was just last night that we caught up!

During this whole conversation, I realised one major thing i.e. the importance of focus on an individual's career.

For far too long, I have believed that the world has too many distractions that tend to divert the attention of the youth in either tangential or potential wrong tracks. In some cases, these distractions can be unnerving and can even border on irreparable damage. I count distractions such as unnecessary movies, paucity of culture, the lack of importance on values, getting into very attractive but extremely damaging relationships with the opposite gender at an impressionable age, etc. Some are mature enough to handle these distractions, while others are not able to take it. In fact, I have known cases where folks with damaging relationships in college, took a very long time to recover from the mental and psychological impact of such experiences.The only bright thing about such heartbreaks, was that it toughened up the individual due to the bad experience, early in life!

In the course of my conversation with this old friend, I realised how some of us got things early in life; how some others had to struggle to get to where they did; and how many others are still left figuring out their track. .

I am convinced that it is important for us to educate the coming generations to have fun in life, but at the same time, be reasonably measured in their formative years. We cannot let many of the distractions I mentioned above, to take its toll on development.

The key is for the youth to keep focus. Not for a moment am I suggesting not to enjoy life - I am all for it. But, there has got to be a balance in the amount of fun that people at an impressionable age have, and the level of focus that they need to have on their career, in order to build a complete life. Mere fun is temporary; and utter seriousness is not good enough either. I may be asking for too much, but that really is the ask of the day. And,I am specifically referring to folks in the age group of 17-22.

Focus - that's my big new mantra for folks entering college in this era. Make it memorable in terms of fun, relationships, movies,distractions et al; but, not at the cost of losing out on the chance to lay a platform for a great future. No distraction in the world is worth messing up the foundation on which a career is going to be built & on which future families are going to depend on. That is possibly why I see the increasing need for all-rounders and people with a balanced mind and approach to life.

My conversation with my old friend today, just reinforced that one word - balance in life;from the very beginning.