Early in my college career I did a summer Internship for a company called Southwestern Advantage. Basically I sold educational material door-to-door in southern Louisiana. Sounds fun right? Even though this was a really tough internship, I would not change it for the world because it gave me a mentality that not a lot of my peers have. I learned the power of positive self talk, how to put in a full week of work (80 hours), but most importantly I have gained mentorships from some of the most self-motivated individuals in the world. One of those mentors introduced me to a book written by Rory Vaden, another Southwestern Advantage books slinger. The message Rory shares about having a buffalo mentality has had a positive impacted on me, so I wanted to share it with all of you!
Below is the insert from "Take the Stairs" by Rory Vaden that I personally enjoyed!
In our quest for self-discipline, we would all be wise to adopt a buffalo mentality. Yes, buffalo. Let me explain.
I proudly grew up in central Colorado. When I was young, my mom, my brother, and I lived in trailer parks and apartments all around Boulder, Lafayette, and Louisville. When people think about Colorado, they often think about the world-famous Rocky Mountains all over the western part of the state. What the often forget is that we also have the great Kansas plains that roll from the foothills out towards the east. Because of that unique topographical landscape, we are one of the only places in the world that has both buffalo and cows
One of my favorite places that I look to for principles of success and the way the world works is in nature. The way these two creatures, buffalo and cows, respond in nature has some really powerful lessons for us.
When a storm approaches from the west, as storms almost always do out there, cows respond in a very predictable way. They know the storm is coming from the west, so they head east to try to outrun the storm.
The only problem is that, as you may know, cows are not real fast. Before long, the storm catches up to them -- and the cows, not knowing any better, keep on running. Instead of outrunning the storm, they actually run with the storm, maximizing their exposure to it. Isn't that stupid?
Many of us humans do the dame thing every day.
We Try to avoid conflict that is inevitable. So often, whether it's in our relationship disputes, financial troubles, or even our physical health, we try to "ignore" problems, pretending that they aren't that big of a deal, and then we try to run away at the last minute as they're fast approaching. Unfortunately, as most of us have learned the hard way, problems tend to compound when we ignore them, and we end up being exposed to something worse than what it might have been.
What buffalo do, on the other hand, is truly unique. They wait for the storm to cross right over the crest of the peak of the mountaintop, and as it arrives, they turn and charge directly into the storm. By running at the storm, they run straight through it as the storm passes overhead, which minimizes the amount of pain they experience.
If only more of us would tackle life's inevitable, unavoidable problems the way the buffalo do -- head-on. Problems that are procrastinated on are only amplified, and we're the ones who pay the price. There's a great deal of strength -- and strategic payoff -- in charging at our most challenging circumstance head-on. But for us, unlike for the buffalo, it's a skill we have to learn, practice, and maintain.
You can buy the book Here!
Procrastination is something that I am still pretty bad at in my life, but it is something I am aware of which is the first step in fixing it. Like a lot of people I always say ' I can do that later' or 'it's not due till next week.' In reality a lot of stress that we put on our body can be avoided if we adopt the buffalo mentality of hitting our problems head on instead of trying to run away. Just like the rain in the story, our problems have a way of catching up to us. Usually they end up being worse too. Next time you come across a problem in your life be a buffalo, and do it right away!
