One of the biggest struggles many of us face, myself included, is enduring patience while working through changes that simply cannot happen overnight but instead require consistent time and effort to see results.
- For the individual, this could be that weight they’ve been trying to lose for years.
- For a corporate leader, this could be the culture shift they’ve been navigating.
- For groups of people, this could be the social change they’ve been fighting for.
My happy thought today is how great it is to actually be able to see the fruits of that labor.
Now, that thought doesn’t come from anything as large or time-consuming as any of the examples above but it does come from an easy example that many of us can relate to – training a dog.
I have a 9 month old puppy (Indy) and one of my biggest issues has been taking him and our 10 year old dog (Buddy) for a walk.
Buddy LOVES walks so the moment he knows one is coming he goes crazy, which makes Indy go crazy. For a solid 5-10 minutes they’re usually a frenzy of fur and barking, running and jumping all over the place so it’s impossible to get a leash on them with any kind of sanity.
So a few months ago we started a training plan. They each had to sit before we’d put the leash on them and leave. It sounds simple enough but it has taken months of repetition to break through their excitement and train the puppy while also retraining an “old dog” – you know what they say about old dogs and new tricks. 😉
But, today…finally!…they got it. I grabbed the leash and, almost immediately, they both sat down. It was like a miracle!
It only happened because I kept working on it. It will only continue to work if I continue to reinforce it.
Again, this is nowhere near as big or time-consuming as the examples above or many other items many of you may be facing. But still, it was a nice reminder for me to keep working on what’s important to me, and hopefully it helps you remember that too!
What’s your happy thought today?
Treasure Trove of Happy Thoughts 