4 Things Horses Teach Us About Success: Part 1 of 4

What I’m about to share will be shocking and offensive to a great number of my friends and family in the African American community. Yet, if you take the time to read, I think I might redeem myself. I’m sharing this week’s post for the same reason I’ve shared every Tuesday’s post, because there are some kernels of wisdom that may be gleaned to help propel us all to greater levels of success.

When I was younger I made a conscious decision to be willfully ignorant of and refused to study African American history. Not only that, I rarely engaged in intellectual dialog regarding the current state of black affairs, even as hot-button topics and very serious issues permeated the country. Further, I was deeply unsettled and didn’t even want to hear what others had to say. Picture a kid who covers his ears and screams, “la-la-la-la-la” to tune out voices. Yes, that was me, in my mind.

If you’ve read this far and feel your emotions rising, I understand, as I share this much to my own chagrin. Yet, after almost two decades of hindsight, I have come to understand why I did this, some of the benefits of doing so (yes, there were a few benefits), and what in the world this has to do with horses and success.

If you play the ponies or grew up in a rural environment, you are probably familiar with the term, “blinkers.” For those of us who didn’t and weren’t exposed, blinkers, also known as winkers or blinders, are the headgear that you see horses wear that can sometimes look like Zorro or masquerade masks (if you stretch your imagination). There are 4 primary reasons that horses wear these “masks.” And, within these 4 reasons, I will weave explanations into why I took such a stance regarding my community and how it actually helped me achieve my dream. And, I think the general ideas found here can do the same for you.

Reason for the Winkers #1: Shielding Vision from Danger

Horses have a vision of about 350 degrees. And, one of the ways that they have survived throughout the years is by using their wide field of vision to detect danger approaching from all sides. A tradeoff of horses having such a wide scope of vision is that their visual perception is unclear. It took me some time to process why and how my willful ignorance of African American issues helped aid in my financial success. But, after consuming hundreds of books and years of reflection, I have come to deconstruct and understand now what was only intuitive to me at the time.?

When I was just getting started in business, I literally called everyone in the Yellow Pages hoping to glean wisdom on the best way-forward in the industry I was pursuing. Thankfully, about 3% of the calls made were really helpful and even encouraging. But, most of them were tough. And, if I didn’t have a strong resolve, my dreams could have been dashed. One call in particular (of about 150 or so) stands out. After briefly sharing my reason for calling, background and ultimate vision, I had someone say to me something along the lines of, “Based on the background you just shared and where you are now, what in the hell makes you think you will be able to achieve this? It sounds foolish and unrealistic at best. This call is a waste of my time! (click)” It was probably at that moment that something shifted for me. I was already on the border of being obsessed because I was running from the pain of poverty. And, this helped seal the deal for me. Tony Robbins has a saying that, “Your obsessions become your possessions.” And, there is a host of science to support this. This was true for me. But, as you can imagine, it came at a cost.

Like horses, I was trying to avoid danger. At the time, rather than seeing how the past and current struggle of my people would encourage and embolden me, I saw things differently. I saw warning signs! I didn’t want to experience the danger of not feeling like I was enough. I didn’t want the danger of focusing more on our past as a people and my poverty-stricken upbringing, rather than my?future. I didn’t want the danger of being too engulfed in the “movement.” And, I didn’t want the danger of being enraged. I feared that if I focused on anything other than the clear vision that I had in business, I wouldn’t succeed, just like the phone call pronounced. So, I wouldn’t tolerate anything (including black history, my history, or our current plight of inequities), or anyone stopping me. I knew that success would be (objectively) harder for someone of my hue, from the inner city and with my family background.

Somehow, for me, I knew that just like horses, I would feel like I was in danger all the time if I focused on anything behind or around me other than what I needed to do for my dream to be achieved and the vision fulfilled. I was going to succeed and that was it. I put on blinkers and developed tunnel vision so that I would be shielded from things that I thought were the most dangerous and that put my dream at risk. There would be no negotiating with myself. There would be no excuses. I was going to “get it!”

(Check back next Tuesday morning, August 10th for Part 2 of 4)

#Horses #Blinkers #Blinders #Poverty #Danger #Success #Dreams #Vision #Goals

?