Once, when Confucius was traveling in the state of Chu, he saw a stooped old man catching cicadas with a long, sticky pole. He did this as easily as picking up objects from the ground.
Intrigued, Confucius asked him the secret to his skill. The old man replied, "After five or six months of practice, only a few cicadas could escape. With more practice, even fewer escaped, until it eventually became as effortless as picking things up from the ground. My method is this: I focus intently on the cicada's wings, completely ignoring my surroundings and allowing nothing to distract my attention. How could I fail to catch them?"
Confucius sighed with admiration and said, "When you devote yourself wholeheartedly to a task, your concentration becomes total, and your skill becomes extraordinary. This is the perfect description of the stooped old man."