Ep 147: Being the Best You Can Be Today
At some point in life, everyone has asked themselves: "Am I good enough?" When you’re building a business, pursuing personal goals, or simply progressing through life, no one gets a pass. Regardless of what area of life you're talking about, there will always be thoughts that slip into your mind and make you question your abilities, your goals, and whether or not you're going to "make it."
I was talking to a young trainer this week who is in the process of building his business, and he is dealing with the frustration of feeling like what he’s doing isn’t enough. Everything he described to me, I had been through.
I’m pretty confident that I could go to any state or province in the Northern Hemisphere and find a trainer who is feeling the same way. There are a lot of things in life that we have little to no control over, but your product is something you have control of. You have control of what you consider to be your standard of excellence. You have control of whether or not you adopt a ‘just get by’ mentality, or whether you commit to doing the little things that define your standard of excellence.
When I was just starting out, my training facility was a very humble 10 acres with a trailer house. This place didn’t have any structures on it–no barns, no arenas, no fences. But, it was mine. So, I decided to make it the best it could be. Whatever I did have was going to be clean, well-kept and well-maintained. I wanted my surroundings to be a reflection of how I take care of my business.
I see a lot of people who are starting with a similar set up who feel compelled to apologize for their facilities, their homes, or their vehicles. Don’t do that. Never be embarrassed of where you are starting. You’ve worked hard for what you have, so be proud of it. Let that pride of ownership show through in everything that you do. Take what you have today and make it as good as it can be.
People feel the pride of ownership you take in your facilities. People that are looking for a certain type of person to have their horse in training with pay attention to those details. They pay attention to how you take care of things and if you take pride of ownership in what you have and what you do. The size and scale of your training operation means a lot less than how well you take care of what you have.
As you are building your business, be careful not to allow the accumulation of all the things that go along with it create a situation where you are so overwhelmed that it steals your passion. Every time you say “yes” to something new, you are saying “no” to something else. Time is your most precious commodity–it’s the only thing that once it’s gone, you cannot get more of. You can always make more money, but you cannot make more time.
Each of us only has 24 hours in a day, so you have to decide what the most important uses of your time are and work backwards from there. If you commit another hour today to do something you haven’t been doing, that is stealing another hour away from something you were doing before. Decide what has to come first for you to maintain your standard of excellence.
“Be Your Best Horsemanship” is brought to you by Silver Lining Herbs, Classic Equine, Martin Saddlery, Better Horses Network, Purina, Healthycoat, CINCH, Starbar, and Clarifly. These brands have been part of the Phil Haugen Horsemanship team for many years, and their products continue to play an integral role in the success of our performance horse training program. To support these brands, visit our Sponsors tab.
