Don't Let Side Missions Distract You From The Main

“You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.” ― Winston S. Churchill

“We lead our lives so poorly because we arrive in the present always unprepared, incapable, and too distracted for everything.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke

"I'm here to build something for the long-term. Anything else is a distraction." - Mark Zuckerberg

Back in my undergraduate days, life was pretty simple.

After lectures I was mostly either coding or playing games, such as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

In this game you played a character making his way up the shady underground world.

Typically there were tasks given to him to do by the bosses he worked with.

However he also had free will and could go on a side mission of his own whenever free, or even before carrying out his bosses' task.

Those side missions sometimes were so much fun (such as robbing a bank or speeding through town with police chasing behind) that one could forget the core missions for days.

However to finish the game, you must complete the core missions.

The side quests were simply distractions to make the game more fun or personalized, but not intended to replace the main objective.

The japanese anime Naruto follows a similar arc.

Those who have watched the series will be familiar with the many side quests Naruto and his team embarked on, which had no real value or impact to the main storyline.

Life is the same. Every journey has steps along the way.

Some of those steps are critical to get you to the next stage.

Others may lead you down a never-ending path, a botttomless hole where you waste years and resources.

In the early days of Seamfix, we went on multiple side missions to raise funds.

As we were bootstrapping, every single dollar earned mattered and kept us alive for longer.

So we built websites, custom software applications, and chased government contracts.

While they served a useful purpose, with time they became distractions from our mission, bad habits that were difficult to break.

Social media is another great example.

No matter how hard you try, you cannot catch up on all the gist on Twitter / Facebook or watch all the exciting picture and video updates of your contacts on Instagram.

The platforms will gladly help you try though. And next thing you know, over 3 hours of your day spent mindlessly scrolling.

This reminder is for you and I:

Don't mistake your side missions for your main life's mission.

They are a useful past time, to do when you are done with your main work, or to serve a short term purpose.

However, you must do that which you have chosen. You must fulfill your mission.

Have a great week!

Chibuzor "Plug That Hole" Onwurah.

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