Lessons on Thriving From Our Dog Keeley
We have a 12 year old dog, Keeley and a 7 month old kitten, Tasha. To avoid a full out donnybrook over food dishes we placed the kitten’s food in one room and the dog’s in another. The problem is that Keeley believes after 12 years that any food on the floor is hers. Given that she is much larger and somewhat intimidating, Tasha was confronted most days with an empty food dish.
Our solution was to put a 3 inch high board across the doorway to the kitten’s room. And, low and behold, the dog hasn’t set foot in the room since it was put in place.
You might ask why. Well, we remembered that when Keeley was a puppy she was very frightened of loud noises, in particular, the sound of a piece of wood falling. When we figured this out we used a piece of board across any doorway we didn’t want her to enter.
So we wondered, even after all this time, would it still stop her. And, sure enough, it did. Now here’s the point to this story.
Keeley is perfectly capable of stepping over the board. She could also nudge it with her nose and make it fall over … I mean, really, she’s deaf as a post so she wouldn’t hear it fall in any case. But she doesn’t do either of these things. She remembers her fear and isn’t willing to put it aside in order to get at the cat food.
So, how do you feel about picking up the phone and calling a stranger? Do you procrastinate making that call to an upset customer? Do you avoid making eye contact with your seat mate on an airplane for fear they’ll want to talk?
Fear very often holds us back from maximizing our contacts with others. Human beings are full of fears: fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of not looking smart … it goes on and on.
But this is your life. The only one you’re going to have. If you’re going to live the next five years why not make them the most exciting, satisfying, productive and amazing years of your life so far?
In other words, don’t “go” through life – “grow” through life. And, what better way to grow than by reaching out to people … creating value for them … investing in and developing your personal network of family, friends, associates, co-workers, subordinates, superiors, vendors, suppliers – and, in turn, receiving from them a lift, an idea, an introduction.
Don’t let your fears hold you back. Create a sphere of influence that can fuel your potential.
What fears are holding you back? Post them in a comment and see how just doing this frees up your potential
Telephoneophobia is a big one for me ….except for my parents and one or two close friends I never just pick up the phone and call someone. Yet I have no trouble initiating a conversation with a stranger. Maybe the issue is that on the telephone I can’t ‘see’ the other person’s reaction to what I ‘say’