fbpx

The Scary Truth about the Hare and the Tortoise

by Sean Foster | May 19, 2022 | Newsletter

Do you belong to a local business association? There are the big ones like Auckland Chamber, but then there are hundreds of local ones. If you don’t belong to one it could be in your interest to seek one out, they are there to support local business.

Just a few of you may belong to Business Whangaparaoa, so if you missed the presentation from yours truly last week, then so did you miss the truth about the Hare & the Tortoise fable.  

You see the good guy in the story is the Tortoise. ‘He’ was a little more modest, yet confident and was clearly the underdog, yet was victorious. From a business perspective, when we are thinking rationally, we have to think that we should be just like the tortoise. Not necessarily slow, but just to be methodically working away on the things that really matter.

Well, the real world just ain’t that kind to us! Especially for the entrepreneurs, the lure of the exciting life that the Hare lives, is overwhelming. Even though we know that our ‘busyness’ is not always great for us, we continue to tolerate being time poor, always on the go and enjoying the high pace of running our business. Yes, I know you also complain about it, but so to, do you also perpetuate the situation.

You can beat yourself up with ‘recommitting’ to slowing down, taking more long weekends, moving away from the coalface, but history sadly repeats itself. How many times have your good intentions faded away over time to reveal no gain?

Frustrating, isn’t it?

What we do, how busy we are, how others see us, is just a manifestation of who we are, as in, our Identity and Values. Very often, these values are different to the ones that you aspire to, or that you tell yourself you practice.

The message here is that deep inside, what you believe in of yourself, is really who you are at that moment. Do not underestimate the power of your beliefs, which is what determines your Identity.

As the model here shows, your beliefs are in turn formed as a result of the things you routinely do, i.e. your Habits.

diagram

And your Habits are created after you experience consistency in the actions you do, i.e. your repeatable actions.

And no surprise here, the precursor to your Actions are the thoughts you have. These being both the positive and negative thoughts.

At first glance, this model may seem overly obvious and even simplistic. But I challenge you to spend a little time in thinking through it. Question in your own mind how one step leads onto the other.

The arrow to the side is bi-directional, this is really important, as it explains how Thoughts are both a driver and a consequence, as is your Identity both a driver and a consequence.

Is there something that you would like to amend in yourself? Maybe your busyness, your positivity, your relationships, it really could be anything.

Just like it was impossible to believe that man could run a sub-4 minute mile, as soon as it was, many more broke this mental barrier. The model above, is there to give your conviction that you can change both your Thoughts and your Identity for a better overall outcome.

Ready for the challenge?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope that you have found some value in the above news brief, if you would like to subscribe to get the latest, then click the button below:
Get the latest news brief here