A life lesson: Taught by a slobbering, foul-mouthed, um, well, dog

It hit me about a week ago. Amidst the dog days of summer, (by the way, the “dog days” extend from July 3rd to August 11th — what did we do before Wikipedia? I was re-taught a valuable life lesson.

I say re-taught, because it’s one of those obvious lessons, but many of us forget. Before the kids’ bath routine and just after the grilled chicken got its final basting, I invited my dog outside.

Bumbling outside, my overweight and under-exercised mixed breed boxer/Labrador dog named Romeo welcomed me with his usual excessive panting. (Yes, that’s my dog’s name — many a night, I’ve called him inside my shouting, “Romeo, Romeo” as if I was reciting a Shakespearean play)

I picked a fuzz-depleted tennis ball and chucked it toward the back fence. Romeo ignored his thirteen-year-old arthritic body and ran after it as if he was a young pup. And as quick as he retrieved it, he bounced back and began pacing around my feet.

Now, the thing with Romeo is that he will not drop the ball UNLESS you show him another ball. Luckily I had said back-up ball.

Show ball. Drop ball. Throw slobber-induced ball. Repeat.
This went on for a while until I decided to throw the second ball as well. Now, he had two balls to retrieve. Which is a welcomed challenge for my dog.

For the next five minutes, my never-give-up dog tried his best to fit both tennis balls in his mouth. They didn’t fit. So he did what any other self-respecting mutt would do, he dropped one ball, picked the other one up, then dropped that one.

The whole charade produced nothing except my own fits of laughter. But the more I thought about it, I realized that my dog just reminded me of an important life lesson about reaching goals.

What tends to happen when New Years rolls around? If you’re like most, you may make several resolutions — perhaps your health, income, career, diet, or more. And although each of those is important, focusing on each of those goals at one time can be a recipe for failure.

Then by mid-February, your resolutions resemble my dog’s disheveled, slobber-soaked tennis balls.

Why? Lack of focus. It’s very difficult to maintain strict focus on several different life-changing goals at once. Just as my dog’s focus was obliterated and he in turn accomplished nothing except making a spectacle of himself.

So next time you want to change a little piece of your life, take one life change at a time. Focus on your career and bring that ball back safe and sound. Then, start focusing on your diet or health and bring that ball back.

You may at first think that you’re not accomplishing your goals fast enough, but the truth is, you’re giving your new life a chance to become habits. And that's how life changes are made — through habit. 

Perhaps the best views on goal setting is from Brian Tracy. As soon as www.improveyourself.com is launched on September 15th, 2008, he will be one of our most featured authors presenting free advice via video, audio, articles and more.