One of the major obstacle we experience in achieving our individual goal(s) is a phenomenon called the Monkey Mind – It refers to the little voice in your mind that comments on nearly everything you do or experience. It is that stream of consciousness that keeps flitting from one thing to the other like a monkey jumping from one branch to the other. When one tries to concentrate, the mind drifts off to fantasies about something you are going to do next week or an unresolved problem you must face tomorrow.
This chattering voice not only distracts you in most situations but it also uses valuable brainpower. When we allow our action to flow from the ramblings of the monkey mind, we become ineffective and blocked. I am sure you have been on a phone call before when suddenly the monkey mind thinks; “I wonder what emails I have received?” At this moment, our concentration is split and we are definitely not listening the person on the other end of the line. Only when our minds are clear and our thoughts are focused, can we achieve productivity.
Seni finished his NYSC two years ago and is at a loss on how to get a suitable job – he has tried up to 10 Companies Recruitment Test and failed. He has gone to his uncles and aunts who are highly connected but nothing seem to give headway. He has changed location from Lagos to Port Harcourt and recently to Abuja but he keeps hitting the wall. During his job search, he travelled to Germany with some of the monies that he could extract from his relatives but he was deported back to Nigeria after 4 months of stay.
Seni’s problem is rooted in the monkey mind syndrome – the inability to concentrate and stick to one course of action. As he is trying to solve one problem, he believes the answer is in another so he does not concentrate on one solution before his mind flips to another. Let’s take a cue from nature – the sun has the power to inflame but because the rays are dispersed, we only feel heat. If you want to experience the burning ability of the sun, just take a concave magnifying lens, place it under the sun and place your hand under the lens.
If you try the aforementioned experiment, the lens will concentrate the entire sunray into a focal point and it immediately inflames whatever is under the lens including your hand. Hence, there is futility in the dispersion of thoughts and action and power in focus. What to concentrate and focus on thus becomes the issue – If only Seni realizes that concentrating on developing his aptitude to solve recruitment test was vital to getting out of the pool of unemployment, he would have saved himself a lot of heartache and headache.
However, the monkey mind syndrome goes deeper into the human condition and it’s associated symptoms blind us from recognizing, concentrating and appreciating our inherent gift – we are always striving for what we do not have – this is the beginning of man’s dilemma. The more something eludes us, the more we want it and when we finally have it, the less we want it. The paradox of the situation is that we can only grow with what we have hence the monkey mind reduces our chances of ever attaining success.
The only solution is gratitude – it is simple but difficult to keep. At the end of each day, lets keep a written record of what we are grateful for no matter how mundane it seems. Clarify them on its importance to solving the problem you are facing or the venture you want to undertake (you can use the Pareto’s principle) and develop them accordingly. If we learn to be grateful for what we have – relationships, gifts, material possession, education, etc, we would not be in haste to tune our minds from it.
