Don't Act Like a Squirrel
Don’t Act Like a Squirrel By Al Secunda, author of The 15 Second Principle (Career Press)
I was recently driving up Bel Air Road in Los Angeles. It is a narrow, winding, two lane roadway, that climbs into the opulent mountains that overlook the city.
As I got half-way up the mountain, I looked up ahead and in the distance I spotted a squirrel crossing the road.
He began his journey on my side of Bel Air Road (the right side) and had almost arrived on the other side when something weird happened.
Just as my car was about to pass him safely, he apparently got startled, panicked, and sprinted back across 95% of the road that he had just crossed.
I jammed on the brakes a little late and if it weren’t for his desperate last second leap into the thick vegetation, he would have been a goner.
After celebrating the fact that I didn’t destroy the little critter, I began thinking about how foolish the squirrel was and why he needlessly endangered his life.
After all, before he changed his mind he was just a few feet from success and safety. Why in the world would he change course at the last second and head back to the other side of the road where more of the noise and danger was?
My guess was that he initially crossed the road to visit a less familiar area of Bel Air. When he heard my car he felt danger, abandoned his exploration, and decided to seek refuge in the environment he felt safest and most comfortable in.
His unproductive action seemed silly until I realized that we as humans probably behave in a similar manner. First, we commit to a passionate and challenging project (writing a novel, inventing a product, looking for a new job, developing a one person show, going for an educational degree, writing songs for our own CD).
We even begin developing momentum and making progress with our dream project. Then, before we complete, sell, or declare our creative journey a success, something interferes with and interrupts our advancement. Perhaps: a knowledgeable friend or “expert” gives us a negative critique (and we believe it); an agent, publisher, manufacturer, or producer does not buy or resonate with our creation; we get overwhelmed by the enormity of our commitment; we prematurely run out of money. We then take the interruption or negative critique personally, make it extremely signficant by treating it as the truth, and let this unexpected obstacle dishearten and paralyze us.
The result is that we permanently put our project on a shelf, bury it in the computer, store it in the garage, or stop the refining and selling process.
The tragedy here is two fold. First, we have stopped doing something that we were passionate about and that fulfilled many of our self-expressive and creative needs.
Secondly, there is an excellent chance that we were closer to success than we realized. Maybe it would have taken just one more: phone call, revision, meeting, or audition, to move us forward and rekindle our excitement and feelings of possibililty.
If and when you experience doubt, lethargy, ambivalence, or depression because of disappointments or rejections don’t let these emotions and physical states, dictate your future behavior and prevent you from continuing on your journey.
Feel the painful feelings, observe your negative or ambivalent thoughts that are hounding you and still have the courage to get up off of your knees and take one more corrective action in the direction of your goal. The secret is to stay committed to your commitments. Remember that like the squirrel, you may be much closer to success and self-satisfaction than you could ever imagine.
For more information visit www.the15secondprinciple.com # # #
About the Author
Al Secunda is author of The 15 Second Principle.
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