The Coyote And Me
Choice, not Chance determines human destiny.
I had been planning a couple of days in the forest, just me and Mother Nature, for a month now. I was so eager to be alone with my thoughts, and dreams and my journal, that it was all that I could think about for weeks. By Tuesday, everything was ready, and I was chomping at the bit to be going. By Wednesday, I was getting irritable and jumpy, but I had a couple of appointments in the city, so, I was on my best behaviour: I was interested in my clients, but while we were talking, my mind was out in the woods.
Thursday morning slowly pulled itself out from under the cover of darkness; it couldn’t rise fast enough.
As I bid goodbye to Judy, I couldn’t help feeling guilty because I was going off by myself, into the forest, just me, my tarpaulin, groundsheet, fishing pole, fly dope, hatchet and matches, and she was staying home. But I had planned for this, I had to go. She sat on the front step and waved and said goodbye and she had this look on her face that said “You’re crazy” and “I’ll finally get a good night’s sleep with your snoring self gone”.
The fact that it was 36 degrees, and it had been a long time since I had done any kind of camping wasn’t slowing me down. No way, I needed this, and I had planned for this; this was my retreat so no obstacle was going to get in my way.
By one o’clock, I had my camp site selected, and my lean-to built, so I decided to go fishing for supper. After a half hour walk through the searing heat, battling through legions of black flies , I came to the river and dropped my hook in the water, where it took me an hour and a half to snag a nice trout. I tried for more, but there were no takers, so I retraced my steps, and found my way back to where I started from.
Like the great hunter returning triumphantly from the wilds of Africa, I arrived at my campsite dragging my prize 7 inch trout behind me. To greet me there were no screaming fans, or shouting townspeople, there was just one big coyote, laying in the shade of a tree beside my shelter.
I shouted and threw a stick at him and he dissipated like a cloud of smoke soundlessly into the forest. “There” I thought, “He’s gone”, and went to work to build a small fire to cook my whale.
A half hour later, as I reclined against a rock, my spidey senses started to tingle, and I felt a set of eyes boring into my back. Slowly turning around, I came face to face with “Wile E.” coyote again. He was sitting in the shade of a small beech tree about 20 feet from me, just staring at me, his tongue hanging out one side of his face, dripping sweat. Again I shouted at him and threw a stick at him, and again he “houdinied” into the forest, and again I went about my business without a second thought.
An hour later, as I was writing in my journal, that same familiar tingling happened in my peripheral mind, and again, I looked up to see Mr. coyote just sitting there, watching me.
Now I was getting nervous.
“Do Coyotes attack humans?” I asked myself, “and do they hunt in packs?”
“Do I want to wait and find out?” my logical brain kicked in.
“But, this is my time” I argued back,” I’ve been planning this for a while, do I really want to go?”
Taking another look into the eyes of the coyote, trying to stare him down, I saw something that looked stronger than me, and instantly, I became afraid. I decided that no amount of planning and no amount of solitude was worth being animal food, so, ever so slowly; I packed my bag and walked out of camp, leaving my tarpaulin shelter behind.
So, what have I learned from this? The lesson is simply this: Often, no matter how much you plan things, your plans can change. If you try to hold on to the original plan, without flexibility or sensibility, it can rear up to bite you somewhere where you don’t want it to.
Of course it’s good to plan, but as you plan, you should build into it the ability to “go with the flow”, or what I call “being in the moment” changes, which simply means “actively observing your direct current reality results and making allowance for the unpredicted and then allowing yourself to make a change”.
Earlier in my business, we would meet at the beginning of August each and every year, and we would plan out exactly what we were going to do that year, right down to what we would spend on advertising and who would be the business coach for each project. It was a great roadmap, because it was very detailed and it served us well: we tried to follow it to the letter. But, as you know, roadmaps are great for showing you a direction, but they don’t take into account the roads that may be under construction. There were times when we had to radically change our direction on the fly, but we always kept the plan in the back of our minds and operated from it. My boss knew that if we were open to it, a detour could show us an even better way to reach our destination… if we let it.
Am I saying don’t plan? No way: I really believe in a good solid strategic plan, but I also believe that, like many rules, plans are made to be changed, as more information becomes available to us.
This week, no matter how detailed and final your plans are, don’t let the coyotes of rigidity and stubbornness keep you from doing or being your best. If you have to back up and leave your current “campsite”, then do it, as long as your new direction moves you forward instead of backwards. If you have to drop your current plan and create a new one, give yourself permission to change.
What I am saying is don’t allow the details of the plan to blind you from the truth. Often it takes a stronger person to make a change than it does to stick to a plan.
Make this your best week ever.
Paul
© 2007 Paul Kearley CS, For 22 years, Paul Kearley has thrived in the personal development and coaching business. As a Master Coach for the past 10 years, Paul’s passion is in developing and creating increased potential, and coaching people to create success.
A newspaper columnist, and editor for “E-Motion”, his own weekly ezine, Paul writes articles that address the everyday challenges we all have and face in life and in business, and offers suggestions for success.
If you’d like to connect with Paul to discuss your personal or business strategies or to subscribe to “E-Motion” , simply goto the web site at http://www.mustfactor.com or by calling 506 433 4722.
Tags: best behaviour, black flies, campsite, chomping at the bit, cover of darkness, fishing pole, go fishing, hatchet, hour and a half, human destiny, inch trout, nice trout, said youre, searing, snag, snoring, tarpaulin, thoughts and dreams, wilds
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