Friday, March 02, 2007

Create The LIfe You Want By Rippling - Lesson Nine

All I can say is WOW! I have received so many positive emails and phone calls about this series and I just want to say thank you. As we draw near to finishing this short series I just want to say thank you for reading! My BLOG only is what my BLOG is because of people just like you so thank you!!!

So lesson nine is another one of those tough ones but so essential if you truly want to create the life you want. So with no further adieu.....


Run with the right dogs and leave the other dogs on the porch.


This is a difficult lesson to adhere to but an important one. In order to create the life you want you must surround yourself with people who want to see you succeed and spend less time, or preferably no time, with those who do not fully support you.

I can not tell you how many people I have encountered or now coached that have goals, dreams and palatable aspirations only to be surrounded by a colleague, friend or social network that seems to enjoy telling them what can't be accomplished. I call these people the lazy dogs. Lazy dogs are those dogs that like doing nothing all day but sitting on the porch and waiting for life to give them their next meal. They grow uncomfortable and often downright mean when someone actually wants to get up and stretch their legs a bit and explore the yard and possibly someone else's lawn. Their favorite words are can't, don't and forget trying...grrooowwwll!

Do you have lazy dogs running your pack? Perhaps running your pack? Maybe it is time to find another pack or start your own.

There will always be those who say you can't accomplish that which you are destined to do. For me, when I first suggested to my lazy dogs I wanted to write a book they laughed. When I actually shared what I had written they said, "you're never going to be a Bill Shakespeare." When I actually published and had the shiny new book in my hand they criticized my cover. When I did my first big speech they said I didn't do that well.

It hurt. Criticism always hurts. It's also eay to fall into the trap of listening to it and believing it. DON'T DO IT! Or at Lease quit doing it!!!

Lazy dogs don't want you to accomplish anything because when you do it makes them self-realize how pathetic and unrewarding their own lives are. The best way to make themselves feel better is to put you down and tell you what you can't do. Life is too hard so why try. Especially you right? I mean if I can't accomplish it why should you?

Guess what....leave those dogs on the porch! Their bark and growl of ridiculous criticism won't ring in your ears if you actually leave the porch, their yard and never come down their street again. Simple as that.

Hard? Yes! Necessary? Absolutely!

Bottom line folks....if you remove those people who say you can't accomplish whatever it is you are here to accomplish (and yes you know what that is don't you?), you only make room for a whole new legion of people who will be there to support, encourage and actually help you. Funny how life works that way but it is absolutely true.

Today my life is so much more rewarding because I have left those mean-spirited dogs back on the porch and found a whole new pack of supportive, encouraging and amazingly inspiring people to run with. I have surrounded myself with people that challenge me and totally want to play a role in my success and I expect to do the very same for them.

Every once in a while one of those lazy dogs wanders over to my new block and tries to pee on my new greener grass and you know what....the electric fence works well!

Find the pack of people who focus on telling you what you CAN DO and what you WILL DO!


Ripple On!!!

Steve Harper

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good advuce and timely for me, other dog metaphors worth examining in my life include:
Sleep with dogs get up with fleas - hand out with people infested with problems and those problems will try to catch a ride with you

and

If they'll bring a bone, they'll take a bone - gossip is a juicy bone, but realize it is a two way connection.

CJ said...

Just WHAT would possess you to put a picture of a Chinese Shar Pei on your site as an example of a lazy dog, Mr. Harper??? :)

Okay, you're right. They're lazy. For live examples of just how truly lazy they are, see this link:

http://cjromberger.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=79&Itemid=56

My doggies are waiting for the man in blue tights, just so you know.