(Note: the word 'mudi' in this piece is pronounced like the word ‘moody’ in English).
I look at my students, all ready and waiting for their Chinese lesson to start. I take a breath and begin: “Let me tell you about our ‘mudi 目的’ today!”
And my students... laughed!
When I asked them why, they said it sounds like I’m introducing them to someone called ‘Hamoudy’!
As it happens, I laugh along with them, because the word does sound a lot like an affectionate version of an Arabic name.
Laughter aside, mudi 目的, pronounced like ‘moody’ really is a Chinese word, and it means ‘goal, target, or objective’.
And ever since that lesson where “Hamoudy” made his first appearance, he now appears in every single one of my lessons. Sometimes multiple times. Sometimes with ‘friends’ (e.g.: sub-goals).
Benefits of having a mudi
Every time I teach, train or even learn something myself, I’m always aligning my plans with a mudi.
There are various benefits I’ve found for doing this… and they reach beyond my training or lesson plans.
A mudi can be the thread that ties everything together:
A good mudi can keep us on track and provide focus
When shared with the right people in your life, your mudi 8allows others to pull in and help you achieve what you want
And when completed, a finished mudi give us a deep sense of achievement and satisfaction
It’s remarkable how much more calm and focused things are when everyone knows what the goal is.
Wrapped up with intention
I believe having even just a single mudi in your life can have such a powerful impact on what you achieve. And it’s because a single ‘mudi’ carries with it a sense of intention.
And intention is powerful.
There is a lot of groundwork involved in getting to a point where you know what your mudi is. You often need to think about it a lot before one becomes clear.
Other times you can set the mudi without the planning and the path opens up before you. A lot of that also comes from the intention and energy embedded inside the goal.
Having a goal carries intention, and having intention creates energy.
That energy can propel not just a lesson, but also a personal life plan, or even dreams to become reality.
I hope this post was like a new look at a trusted tool: the power of simply having a goal, for the things you want to have, do or learn.
So that’s it: the power of a mudi. What’s yours?
Footnotes:
目的 mudi - pronounce as: “Moo-dee”. This is one of my favourite words in Chinese. It means “goal, target, objective”. Here are the characters: 目的. The left one means ‘eye’. The right one is a bit more intense to explain right here (hit reply to this email if you want to know).
Thanks to my original students who were witness to this Hamoudy story ;)
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