A lion can only catch one gazelle at a time
“Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. This gazelle knows it must run faster than the fastest lion, or it will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve to death.
Now, it doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle. The moral of the story is this: When the sun comes up, you better be running.”
Lately I’ve been feeling like I don’t have enough time in the day to squeeze in everything I’d like to. I have many interests and hobbies and I’ve let some fall by the wayside because others have been prioritised. This is also inclusive of the specific needs required of me at this stage of my life. For example work and sleep are necessary parts of my schedule and have very narrow margins for alteration. Given their rigidity, I am able to use them as markers to navigate all other hobbies. I am thankful and lucky my two other main hobbies are separated, one runs solely at night and one runs solely in the morning. This leaves me with my days off (the middle part of the day) to fit in other hobbies, alone time, quality time with friends and family, necessary home duties and anything else I can think of.
Now, to me, that feels busy. It’s almost as if I have this necessity to fill my time with something ‘useful’, something that I can upskill with, something worthy of my energy. I feel neglectful of the hobbies I once loved but have no time for anymore.
The above quote reminds me that everyone has an agenda for themselves, and that is the nature of the world. Another aspect of this is the delicate balance of our actions upon ourselves and others. If the lion catches too many gazelles, there will be waste, and the species may become endangered. They may seek ground further from the lions, knowing they are likely to lose more than just one slow gazelle. The lions are unable to eat because they cannot get food, the imbalance causes a dramatic upset with the flow of nature.
The lion can only catch one gazelle at a time.
We only need to focus on one major purpose at any given time. Eventually this aspect of our lives will become naturally enmeshed with what is already easy to us, and we can choose to focus on something else as a priority.
From the gazelle’s perspective, they know that the majority of their herd will survive and only the slowest and weakest is at risk. All they need to do is not be the slowest. We can try our best to maintain everything we have, but sometimes we must let go of ideas to allow others to flourish.
Focusing on too many new items at once can be overwhelming, tiresome, and difficult. If the lion tried to catch many gazelles at once, he may end up with none. The fact that he seeks out one that is attainable in that moment is why is he is successful.