I’ve been riding horses as long as I can remember and today, I ride and show a beautiful jumper named Parisian. There’s an exuberance that fills me when I take her into the ring for a competition, but there’s something deeper, and recently I was asked what lessons I’ve learned from competing with my horse. Besides the close relationship that develops between horse and rider…there are life and leadership lessons that we learn along the way from these majestic creatures, and there are some major life lessons I’ve learned from competing my horse.
I am passionate about competing and showing Parisian.
First and foremost I love the bond we share.
When we’re competing, it’s a partnership. We can’t do this without each other. We communicate every step of the way. We’re united, and together in our partnership, we’re more successful. Just like it is in business. When you try and go it alone, success is harder to achieve.
Sometimes I make mistakes and sometimes she makes mistakes that affect the outcome of our competition, but I always learn and come back stronger and more determined not to make the same mistakes again. Failure is a swift teacher and having a partner to work with makes the failure a blip in my journey and an opportunity for growth.
I have to be congruent. You can’t lie to a horse because they have an uncanny way of sensing when something isn’t safe, real or true. Living in congruency is key to having a successful business.
Parisian has good and bad days, and some really great days, just like you and me. On her bad days, I give her the encouragement she needs. I nurture her and offer my inner guidance and strength so that together, we become stronger. On my bad days, she cuts me the slack I need. Just like it should be in life. Team leaders and members also experience good, bad and great days, and on the bad, you have to reach out, extend a hand and offer a lifeline.
I’ve also learned the art of making quick decisions. In competition, I don’t have the luxury of spending great amounts of time figuring out what I need to do next. I have to think in the saddle and quickly, and I have to make the necessary adjustments. Again, this is true in life and business. Great leaders constantly have to make quick decisions that affect entire teams and their business. It’s a trained skill, but one that must be learned and mastered.
Competing with my horse is not just about showing up. It’s about full immersion, preparation and pushing myself to ride better every day and dedication to being fully present without distraction.
My leadership skills have been fine-tuned. Horses do not have to follow us. Horses follow us because they want to – because they feel safe. It’s similar for us in all aspects of our lives. We can’t demand a following.
And finally it’s about creating a partnership. In order to experience success on all levels in life and in business, we should work and socialize with others who share and value who you are and who want to be with you.
You may or may not ride horses, but I’m guessing you’ve learned something from an animal along the way. Take a moment and share your story in the comments below.
I am sure many of you remember Randy Pausch’s compelling “Last Lecture” speech on September 18,2007 at Carnegie Mellon University. It is perhaps the greatest lesson on moving beyond the brick wall and in Randy’s case, he had more than one brick wall to move beyond. He pushed the brick wall and in his inspiring story you’ll discover that you can move beyond the brick wall, too.
Having recently been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Randy understood about brick walls. His aggressive treatments were in hopes of giving him a long life. But those treatments didn’t work and Randy passed away on July 25, 2008. ”We can’t change the cards we are dealt just how we play the hand.”
“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.” – Randy Pausch
I’ve faced brick walls many times in my life. But, none as tough as Randy’s. His attitude when facing his mortality was inspiring and thankfully he left us with his now famous lecture.
When I hit what I think is a brick wall, I don’t let it stop me anymore. I remind myself that the brick wall is put there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough and that I need to do whatever it takes to succeed and move forward.
In my business I see people who hit brick walls often and one of the things that I like to share with my team is that we have every tool available to us to move through that barrier. We have to employ those tools and take action. And of course there’s the support you have from your team members, supervisor, mentors, that can help you get to the next level you are striving for.
I find that too often people are afraid to ask for help for fear they appear incapable of doing their job. Just remember everybody hits that wall in their business or in their life at some point. How you move through it, over it or around it is really up to you. Don’t let yourself be one of those other people that lets the brickwall stop them. Show how badly you want success by pushing through. It feels really great when you can look back and see what you achieved even through adversity!
If you’d like to know true inspiration watch this video of Randy reprising his “Last Lecture” on Oprah Winfrey’s show.
“The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them.” – Og Mandino
Og Mandino has written some great books …… The Greatest Salesman in the World (part 1 and 2), Secrets for Success and Happiness,just to name a few of my favorites.
Do you set goals on a daily, weekly or monthly, yearly basis? Do your goals stretch you?
I am sure you have heard the acronym of SMART goals. If you haven’t, or haven’t thought about it lately, SMART goals are:
Specific
Measureable
Attainable
Realistic
Timeframe established
Do you set goals for yourself? Do you set base goals and stretch goals? Sometimes you might even want to establish big audacious goals. No matter what, we all set goals at some time or another, whether small or audacious, that we sometimes do not achieve.
So I want to ask you, why not realistically stretch yourself as you are setting your goals? If you don’t, no one else will do it for you. But when I say stretch yourself, don’t make your goals unattainable. They need to be possible, but not small.
One thing some of the most successful people have in common is they take the time to list their goals and create a blueprint of how to achieve them.
Written goals without an action plan of how you are going to achieve them are probably not worth the piece of paper they are written on.
One other part of the equation is speaking those goals publicly to someone you respect, love or who you know will hold you accountable. If no one else knows your goals besides you, it’s really easy to not work on them.
Your goals don’t have to be just business related, they can be personal as well. What are you inspired by, what do you believe in? What do you dream of achieving that will support your passions for making a difference? Those are a part of your core vales. Your core values are what help shape you as you move through life. Your values are also what determines your inner beliefs. Those inner beliefs in yourself and your ability to achieve drive the cogs in your wheel.
What big goals are you going to set for yourself in the next 30 days?
