Spring’s arrival is always a welcome reunion for
professional horsemen. Good weather, dry paddocks
and green pastures for horses are a horseman’s
delight.
Opportunities for the spring, summer and fall seasons
abound and energy is high and spontaneous to
wrestle all challenges.
Then after time, the project list begins to grow
faster than the weeds on the manure pile. Repair
and build fences, clean out hay mows, tune up
equipment, and get fat and sassy horses back into
riding and show condition. More riding lessons to
schedule in too few hours, horses to train for show
dates close by and yearlings and two year olds
stacked up for starting and training.
Compounding the time crunch are family demands like
baseball practice and games, dance recitals and
senior proms. The feeling of overwhelm
builds up within the professional horseman like a
building volcano.
Eventually, something has to give in to the mounting
pressure. Erupting in a volcano like fashion does
work, but leaves a lava laden mess around for your
clients, employees, friends and family to step through
cautiously.
Another solution is to simplify and focus.
I know that word, simplify, looks good on
paper. Making life simple is a challenging task when
horses demand attention every day of the week,
clients would like to demand your attention every
day of the week and family members deserve
attention every day of the week. But the
alternative, complicated overwhelm, will
never work
for business owners.
The first step toward getting control to simplify is to
become incredibly selfish.
On the surface, the suggestion to become incredibly
selfish sounds childish and self-centered. But think
about it; until you get control of your problems,
become balanced and the happy person you want to
be, what good are you doing for your: horses,
clients, employees or family members?
Thomas Leonard developed the 28 principles of
attraction a few years back. They are principles of
attracting the things you want into your life.
Becoming incredibly selfish is the first of the 28
principles.
Here are some key points about the subject
- Know what you want and say so - people are
more
relaxed and drawn to you when you are secure about
who you are.
- Removing things you don’t want to do from your
life opens up time to complete the things you do
want to do.
- Saying No to others requires practice,
but gets
easier each time.
- Even if at first it may seem unlikely, others will
pick up the slack to do the things you choose to
stop doing.
- If you have special talents like teaching, training
or judging horses, you owe it to yourself and others
to create the time to nourish and use your skills.
Viewed a different way, being selfish with your time
benefits others just as much as it benefits you. If
your business and personal life is approaching
overload, its okay to be selfish and find other ways
to get the work done. By simplifying your
life, you will create the time to focus on
your business and do more of the things that you are
talented and gifted at doing.
This week, and in the future, you have permission to
say NO.
