How’s Your Squirrel Impression Coming Along?
November 14th, 2009 . by Jeff McCall
I had a long drive ahead of me…
I set off at the crack of dawn to avoid the rush hour traffic and get to my destination as early as possible. There were very few cars on the local roads at that time in the morning and no pedestrians that I noticed. The road I was on seemed almost deserted, except for when I reached a straight section of tree-lined avenue not far from home.
There in the centre of the road ahead sat a little grey squirrel.
I suspect that the little chap was quite surprised to see my car. He jumped up in surprise and began rapidly looking this way and that. Then he began what could have been mistaken for a little dance. A few steps to the left, a few steps to the right, and repeat. He really couldn’t make his mind up which way to run to escape. Should he go left or should he go right?
In fact, he was moving back and forth so much, I had to swerve several times before I managed to hit him!
OK, cheap laugh! Well, it made me laugh anyway. I’m sorry, I just couldn’t resist the temptation. Must be my warped sense of humour.
I promise you, I never ran him down I slowed down enough to let him safely escape. The last time I saw him he was fit and well, and running up a tree. Honest your honour!
The little critter knew he had to do something to survive, he just couldn’t decide which direction to go.
I heard a news report on the radio a few days later. Apparently far fewer hedgehogs are being killed on our roads. They’ve learnt that when a car is coming it’s foolhardy to roll into a ball. Instead, the instinct to just run for it as fast as they can is now being passed through the generations. Hedgehogs are learning through evolution that standing still is not good for their future.
Enough already, what has this got to do with me?
Well if you haven’t worked it out yet, it’s all about having some direction in your life. You’ve got to have something to aim for right? Without direction you’ll just be running in circles, or back and forth like our little squirrel friend. You simply must have some direction if you want to move your life forward, get it?
OK clever whatsit, how do I create direction?
The easiest way is by setting yourself some goals. I won’t go into detail here about the finer points of goal setting, that’s for another article. I just want you to make the decision to set yourself at least one. Make sure it’s achievable, write it down, read and visualise it regularly using all of your senses so it becomes real to you.
Believe me, setting goals works! All successful people have been setting goals for themselves for years. So if you want to emulate them and achieve success for yourself, in whatever sphere, you must set yourself some goals.
So how d’you square up?
Are you a squirrel who has no direction in life, or are you a hedgehog who gets his head down and goes for it?
Be successful!
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