Why It Is So Difficult To Swat A Fly

I like to keep contact with people that I’ve met in my past because everyone out there is so unique and has had such cool experiences that it’s fun to share their life experiences with them. I think we can all learn from each other through our unique differences and perceptions. Just keep in mind, however, that networking is a two way street. Those people that you keep contact with though, can inspire you from time to time with their perspective.

As I said, I keep in touch with many of my past colleagues, so it wasn’t uncommon for me to send an email to one of my past colleagues asking how he has been and updating him on my new projects. I received this response:

It was great motivation for the day, but more than that, it made me think.

Here is what I said back:

 

“Do you know why it’s so hard to swat a fly?

It’s not because it can see into the future. It’s because it moves so fast, everything else moving around it looks like it’s in slow motion.”

To be honest, I really wasn’t moving fast. What had happened was that I had begun focusing on one general thing:

I had begun to focus on actionable items and complete them whenever the time allowed me to. Although I had a general long term plan, I focused more on the simple question:

Over time, those actions had begun to accumulate, sometimes even snowball into a barrage of action. That action created more motivation and so momentum had picked up around this one basic concept:

When it comes down to it, action is what makes things happen. Persistent action will outwork ideas any day of the week. To that point, an idea is only as good as the action behind it. To be successful, you don’t even need a good idea. All you really need is action. Put enough action behind your goals and they will start to complete themselves. Maybe all this action I was putting forth was facilitating even more action in a faster time period than I previously knew. Perhaps, I was completing the same actions in less time using the momentum built from the action before. Maybe I really was moving faster, but that faster speed had simply become the norm. Maybe, now, I see in slow motion because I am moving so much faster than those around me. They do say Time is just relative anyway.

Honestly, though, I really couldn’t tell you. I don’t know whether I am moving faster than the norm or whether or not I am seeing things in slow motion. I don’t believe I can see the future by any means.

What I can tell you, though, is that someone trying to swat me down will have to anticipate my next move before they actually do crush me down and stop my momentum. I may not be able to see the future, but I sure can see what’s coming at me before it hits. How much momentum have you built?