A few months ago, I wrote an article, Its Just Focus. in which I basically noted that for 2 weeks early this year, my only focus was to lose weight, and I did it. Well, sometimes, it is easier said than done and knowing it sometimes does not always mean doing it . Which is sometimes I don’t have a very good opinion of people who read self improvement books or go to management seminars, and when presented with certain principles, say with certainty that they are not really learning anything new. Of course, most principles are NOT new, and there is scant hope that even when hearing a well known guru, or paying thousands of dollars to attend a convention, that you will ever hear anything new about how to live your life. Most self evident truths have been with us for thousands of years. The important thing is not to know, but to constantly fortify and remind ourselves of the things that really matter. that is why until now, I constantly read and write self improvement things — the basis of this blog is really not only to tell you, but also to constantly remind myself how important some of this principles is — even to myself.

And the last few months, iirregardless that I know how to lose weight, and have done it before, I have not gotten enough ‘focus’ to lose some more, which I do need to do.

My friend, Max, also have his fight against stopping smoking.. Of course, while this is really important, we delude ourselves to think that whether it is losing weight, getting fit, or stopping smoking, we can stop anytime we want, but we only want to stop after we take care of ‘other’ things, which normally get into the way of doing the most important things.

And then I thought — I am doing so many things day to day, including chasing orders, talking to customers, and the like, but after five years, which of the things I would be doing would really matter? Only one — if I lose weight now, five years from now, I may have much less health problems. So while many things scream of being urgent, few things are really important. Are we focusing on the important things, or do we let urgent things get into the way?

At the end, if you know it and not do it, what is the difference between not knowing it at all. Or to coin another great quote, ” what is the difference between a person who does not read good books, and one who does not read?”