WHAT PURPOSE DEMANDS

On March 26, 1987, The Times of India published a supplement (The Times Offspring). In it, the well-known English journalist Khushwant Singh gave an interview. One question and answer from that interview went like this:

Q:       You are a media man. How is it that you are so against television, as you once mentioned in your Malice column?

A:        Well, I am against watching it myself. I had one set in my Bombay residence. As a result, I could not concentrate on anything else. I would simply switch on the TV and watch whatever was being broadcast, no matter how meaningless. So I told the television company to take it back, since I prefer to read and write.

What Khushwant Singh did in this case is what we call “preference.” The principle of preference is essential for any purposeful person. If you have a goal in front of you, you must end your interest in everything other than that goal. You need to turn your attention away from every other direction and focus only on your purpose. This is a necessary condition for success; without it, no major achievement can be gained in today’s world.

To gain one thing, you must give up another. Without giving up what needs to be sacrificed, you will not gain what you truly desire.