4 Things Horses Teach Us About Success: Part 2 of 4

Preface: Last week, I revealed shocking and potentially offensive truths about how I related to the African American community while in pursuit of my dream. I also laid the foundation for this series of writings. So, if you haven’t had a chance to read the first part of, 4 Things Horses Teach Us About Success, please click here before reading today’s installment.

Horses have 350 degree vision, which makes it easy for them to get distracted. Because a horse’s natural instinct is to run first and ask questions later as a survival instinct, you can imagine how difficult it is for them to move in any particular direction with consistency. This is especially problematic if you are racing a horse or simply trying to steer them in the right direction. This challenge is the second reason why horses need winkers.

Reason for the Winkers #2: Maintaining the Right Direction

Have you ever been driving a car and for a few seconds you find yourself drifting off your path to one side of the road or the other? If you’re like most drivers, you’ve had this experience at least a few times and had to quickly course correct. When first learning to drive, I was told to, “always keep your eyes on the road in the direction that you want the car to go.” Sometimes we take our eyes off the road ahead because something physically distracts us and grabs our attention. Or, we can even be looking straight ahead but still miss a turn or exit simply because our thinking is distracted.?Winkers are used to keep horses from being distracted by what’s going on around them so that they can maintain the right direction. But, we aren’t horses. What type of?“winkers” do humans use to ensure that we maintain forward momentum as we move in the right direction of our dreams?

Distraction is one of our single greatest dream killers. For far too many of us, our dreams will never be realized because we simply lack the proper focus. It is really hard to hit a target if you aren’t properly aiming. And, most of us can’t concentrate on aiming at the target of our dreams because we have too many other targets of distractions. For years, productivity experts have proclaimed the importance of to-do lists. And, I appreciate to-do lists. Yet, most people’s to-do lists include too many things and too many areas.?I would argue that we would now receive significant benefit by consistently using a “not-to-do” list, eliminating those things that aren’t essential to the primary goal. Having too many competing passions or priorities that result in never-ending to-do lists won’t yield extraordinary results. As mentioned in Part 1 of this series, as insensitive and disrespectful as it sounds, I was concerned that being too involved in the affairs of my people or studying the atrocities that African Americans have and continue to face, would be a distraction or competing priority that would create an impassioned never-ending to-do list for me. And, this?would have kept me from moving in the direction of my dreams. There are a number of really dynamic and high capacity people who can walk and chew bubble gum. But, for most of us, we would do better to have one primary thing. For clarity, it’s not that I didn’t care about our plight. I just resolved that in order to best help, I had to first be in a much better position of financial and social standing before I could make the difference that I wanted to.

So, what is the winker that humans have? What tool do we use to ensure that we maintain focus so that we can continue to move in the right direction despite life’s inevitable challenges and inequities? My simple and familiar answer is this, vision. We have to develop (or maybe more appropriately stated, discover) the vision for our lives. Vision has been defined in many ways by people of much greater renown. But, my definition of vision is, ‘a clear picture of an exciting future or destination.’ For example, my new, 20 year vision is, ‘To have acquired businesses worth $1 Billion in value with $100 Million in annual EBITDA (operating profit).’?

When I was growing up, I didn’t hear a single person discussing, let alone encourage, buying profitable businesses. Nope, sadly, not ever!?I didn’t even know it was a thing until I was in my late 20’s. At most, I heard people talk about investing in the stock market and starting their own business (Interestingly, most startups are much more risky than buying profitable businesses. But, this is a post for another day, which is coming very soon.) Most of what I heard and saw in the African American community wasn’t very encouraging. Most (definitely not all) of the conversations I heard were about what we couldn’t do and why we couldn’t do it based on our history, or zip code or upbringing. And, I just didn’t believe it. Conditions may not have been ideal but I always wondered, ‘Why not me?’ At a young age I developed the wonderful gift of reality distortion. I saw how I could make things be, not as they were. I saw the opportunity, not just all of the potential setbacks. What I didn’t know then, that I am much more clear about now, is that so many of my people were suffering from a poor mindset and learned helplessness. And, much of it was due to systemic oppression. But, some of it was just stinkin'-thinkin' that I wanted no parts of.

The data is clear. So, I won’t argue the point that the playing field wasn’t and continues to remain unlevel for African Americans and other minorities. But, the question I asked then, just as I do now is, ‘Now what? Should I just accept things as they are? Should I just tuck-tail, roll over and play dead?’ Unfortunately, I was in the wrong circles because too many of those questions led to conversations and outcomes that I wasn’t interested in. Yes, things are harder. But, I was scared that I would live a life filled with regret if I didn’t shoot for the stars. So, lacking in balance, I tuned just about everything out for fear that I would “catch” the ever-present mindset that would lead to a life of regret and unrealized dreams. It was the vision that I had that allowed me to develop tunnel vision and ignore the “noise.”

Everything we do has a time value attached to it. We don’t “manage” time. Time keeps moving no matter what happens. We actually manage priorities in the context of time. Not only are we managing priorities, we also have to manage energy. As we get older we begin to pay more attention to our energy levels. And, what most of us find is that things that deplete our energy the fastest are things that have nothing to do with our vision and dreams. We need to use the winkers of vision to determine our priorities and how we will invest our time and energy. Filtering things through the lens of our vision is what will keep us free from most distractions. It will also help us to continue moving in the direction of our dreams with the energy and grit needed to persevere through life’s greatest challenges.

(Check back next Tuesday morning, August 17th for Part 3 of 4)

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