One of our client’s business cards has a quote on it which states, “A dog in the hunt don’t know he’s got fleas!” Obviously, this entrepreneur wants to stay focused on what’s important.
Shall we dissect what this means? To me, the obvious message is that if you’re so busy moving forward, if you’re so busy doing what you’re trained and ready to do; then the little things just don’t matter. Particularly the little annoying things. And it’s these annoying things that can be really distracting if you let them.
So do you have fleas? Do you have some petty things that are bothering you that are taking your focus away from what needs to be done? Are these things taking you away from your purpose?
Let’s dig down even deeper. A dog that’s not whole-heartedly in the hunt may get distracted by the fleas. He may stop on the sidelines and start scratching. But have you ever seen a fox hunt and watched the hounds? I’ve only seen snippets on TV or in the movies, but all I can visualize are dogs that are on the run. Nose to the ground, they are determined to complete their mission. Their rapt attention is on the fox; they’re certainly not thinking about any pesky fleas.
Whether it comes from instinct, training, the heat of the moment, or good breeding; good hunting dogs know that when they are “hunting” that nothing else matters. And they live for the hunt!
The problems begin when the dogs have finished hunting and are just lying around. That’s because fleas will spread and multiply if given the opportunity. In fact, when the dogs are idle, the fleas have a field day jumping from one dog to the next.
The parallels to people in the workplace are amazing. Whether you’re talking about salespeople, managers or administrative types; there are usually some in every group that are suffering from flea infestation. They sit around and complain about this or that. They focus on those nagging fleas and they spread them around. They complain because someone is making more money than they are, that customers don’t understand, that the competition is too tough, and that the boss is a jerk. Recognize anyone yet?
I’m not saying that there are not injustices and legitimate grievances that happen all around us. And I’m not saying that we don’t deserve our downtime. But what would happen if for today or for this week, you just got in the hunt. I mean really got in the hunt. If you did, you wouldn’t give those fleas a chance!
Do You Have Fleas? - To learn more about this author, visit Will Turner's Website.
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