The importance of focus

When i first started i always thought that having one type of shrimp per tank and i can keep multiple types if i have multiple tanks. That was my initial plan, setup more tanks so i can house more of them. However, as i grow and learn deeper into the shrimp breeding process i met with renowned Taiwan breeders who shared with me over many years the How’s and Why’s.

Having a dream is important and having goals is even more important to get to your dreams. Whatever your dream might be for shrimps it is achievable as long as you set your heart and mind to it. Have goals so that you will eventually reach and get what you wanted.

If you dream is to have the best PRL you have in the country, start learning what it takes to get there.

When you have your goals, it is important to focus on what you have. Everyone is different and so is space, time, money, etc so you’ll need to ensure that the goals you set is achievable by yourself. I have this discussion few years ago with a group of breeders and it is clear that while breeders in Singapore are generally constraint by space, we had to re-think to get better at what we do.

So focus was the topic of discussion for many weeks and months and eventually we came to realize to be great at what we do, we need to understand what to do with what we have. This particular local breeder is very successful with Gold Standard breeding methodology and he is one true example of breeding successful and awesome looking shrimp.

For him, he focuses on 1 type of shrimp which is the PRL and really do very well on it. Focusing all his time, effort, resources into it rather than to spread it all out. Like mentioned on the onset, everyone is different so if you want to be good at breeding, you will have to make a plan and goal that suits you. Remember that focusing doesn’t mean you only can keep 1 type of shrimp, you can keep a few type but choose which to focus based on your resources.

All great breeders started somewhere and would have fallen down many times before they got to where they are today. It takes decades to fully appreciate the journey. None of the renowned breeders had it easy and this is a great lesson for those who are starting and also those who are already in this for a long time. There will be times when you feel down because your shrimp just die, it is part of the breeding process and does not define if you are a success or failure. It is simply part of the process. Learning from it is important because we try not to make the same mistake.

If you are not failing, you are not even trying. To get something you never had, you got to do something you never did. This is important because when we think that we are too good, we don’t learn or further tweak to be better. This is a very dangerous place to be at so it’s better to understand why some people are more successful. Learn from them both their success and failures.

Learn as much as you can, try and keep trying even very season breeders continue to learn. It’s a life long journey. At the end of the day, the focus is on the shrimp, if you can get to your goal of a beautiful shrimp you are halfway there. The other half is sharing. Not much use holding onto everything in my opinion. When you reach your goal, remember to pull someone up, each one, teach one.

Everybody have the same amount of time a day, so it is limited and by focusing your time on what matters is important. Being better tomorrow should be your personal goal as well, this means that you’re using your time wisely and to improve your breeding process, your setup and program altogether. In my previous post about time, it is important to know that shrimps life span is very short. There is only so many times a shrimp can breed and by focusing on that it becomes clear that there is really no time to waste.

Time can be invested or wasted, so do not waste time on the naysayers along the way because they will not be supporting you in getting where you want to go. Let them go. They will tell you a thousand reason why you cannot do it but they never tell you how you can do it (Only holds you back). That is why it’s better to learn from breeders who are successful and have results to show. Hence, i take time to share what works, as i was fortunate to learn from the best and i wanted to share it with the rest.

Hope you had a good read!