My dogs have taught me many lessons over the years, including patience, living in the moment, seizing the day, and forgiveness. More recently, my yellow labrador Rocky has reinforced a lesson I learned many years ago.
Rocky is ten years old, and lately, he hadn’t seemed to want to put much effort into running around the yard. If I were to compare him to a horse, I would say that Rocky had not done much more than a trot for a while. A few months ago, my wife purchased some toy doggie balls for our canine crew (there’s Rocky plus three others) to play with in the yard.
We always knew that Rocky loved balls. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see just how much he loves chasing them. When I throw that ball, Rocky is not trotting after it. He breaks out into a near-gallop. If I have two balls, he’ll drop one so that I can throw the other—and then he sprints after that. He will do this repeatedly until he finally needs a rest.
Many years ago, I learned that your “why”—your reason for doing something—has to be powerful enough to motivate you to get the task done. If your “why” is not compelling enough, there’s a good chance you will lose momentum and fail to accomplish your goal. Rocky demonstrated this beautifully. Until recently, he had done nothing more than a trot. However, when presented with his “why”—a ball—he suddenly had a reason to move fast. He had found his motivation. Our Rocky is now a sprinter, and he loves it.
When deciding on goals for yourself, choose those with a powerful “why,” and you will find yourself overcoming obstacles and sprinting towards their achievement.
Thank you for reading this post! I hope you’ve enjoyed it. Feel free to leave comments and share.