So this week I'm going to take a quick break from the questions I've been answering the past couple of weeks.
(No worries, we'll get back to them again soon.)
I want to share a few things that I've noticed and learned over the last little while from some committee's I've seen on the roads and streets around where I live.
So for most of you who follow this me or this website for any length of time you probably know that I live in Nashville, TN.
With that being said if there is one thing we have a good amount of around here in the south it would be birds, but with that being said I'm talking about one kind of bird, in particular, it's the vulture.
Yes, that's right I'm going to be talking to you about vultures today.
I know some of you are probably rolling your eyes right now and thinking to yourself what could I possibly learn from a vulture?
If that happens to be your thought right now let me save you some time and tell you that you should stop reading right now.
If that's the case let me take a quick minute and "Thank You" for time and for checking out this post I do appreciate it.
Now that they are gone, the rest of us can get on with actually learning something today. :)
(If you're still reading and you rolled your eyes and thought that thought... Yes, I know your type you just don't like being told what to do. Anyway, I'm still glad you decided to stick with me on this.)
Alright let's get right into it...
1. Vultures don't care what they look like they just do whatever they want to do.
I mean seriously look at a vulture... That is not a pretty bird, but a vulture doesn't care at all. It just shows up and does it's own thing no matter who sees it or not.
2. Vultures don't hurry for anyone or anything.
For example if you are in a car and a vulture is walking across the road to get something it wants it doesn't hurry at all. As a matter of fact most of the time it will stop and stare you down and won't move till it's dang good and ready.
It doesn't matter if you are in a car or not it just plain doesn't matter to a vulture.
3. Vultures don't let anyone or anything bother them when they are focused on something.
There could be a dead animal in the middle of a four-lane road and a vulture will sit right there and eat that animal even if cars and trucks are whizzing by it at 75+ mph.
It's almost like they are daring you to hit them, but they know deep down that most people don't have the balls to do it.
4. Vultures are rarely if ever alone.
They always travel in packs and if you mess with one vulture you better be prepared to mess with them all.
I'm not sure if this is because they're truly pack creatures or just the fact that they know they are so disliked that they need to stick together.
(If anyone knows the actual real answer here please leave it below in the comments.)
5. Vultures clean up dead animals and other dead things they know their purpose in life.
They are always cleaning up others people messes or problems and they take great joy in doing so.
They have recognized their calling in life and they aren't afraid to do it.
For them their life is simple...
Find dead things to eat.
So now to bring this full circle for you and show you how we can apply these things to our lives.
1. Don't let the way you look have an effect on how you go about getting things done in life. You don't have to look like an Instagram model to make an impact on the world. Or you don't have to look like Brad Pitt to be successful in life.
Accept who you are and what you have and focus on making things happen. Believe me in the long run people will be more impressed with a person who uses what they have (skills, influence, knowledge, etc...) to make things happen over a person who just skates through life on their looks.
2. Don't hurry unless you absolutely have to in life.
How many times have you been told to slow down and smell the roses?
Some people are always trying to keep themselves busy because they are afraid of the quiet. They are afraid of silence and stillness. A lot of people today don't like to think or ponder things, they would just rather that they seem so busy they just don't have time for anything.
Little secret my friends... You will always make time for the things that are important to you no matter how busy you might be. But most people today also use being busy as a way to have to do things they are scared or that make them uncomfortable.
Slow down some.
You don't have to be running every minute of every day.
Take some time to ponder things in your life, your life will be better and you will be happier if you just slow down a little bit.
Don't be busy just to be busy.
The more "Busy" you can cut out of your life and your daily agenda the better off you'll be.
3. Learn to have laser-like focus when you need it.
Focus is a dying art form in our society today.
The average person's attention span today is smaller than a goldfishes attention span. In 2000 the average attention span of a person was 12 seconds. Today in 2020 that number has dropped to 8 seconds.
Think about that for a minute...
Let that sink in.
The next time you're at a restaurant and it has a fish tank in the lobby and you are standing there admiring the fish, think to yourself they actually have a bigger attention span than you do.
So how do we change that?
We have to start using our brains more and we need to start building our brains.
Some easy things you can do to get started right away are:
- Ask questions.
- Listen to music.
- Taking notes by hand.
- Reading.
- Working with numbers and abstract theories.
- Memorizing simple things.
- Take walks.
- Have conversations with people.
The list can go on and on but I think you get where I'm going, just use your brain more and focus on hard things, things you're not used to doing all of the time.
4. Humans are social creatures.
And while we all enjoy some alone time from time to time and that is completely normal I think we can all agree that for most people this quarantine has shown us that we are social creatures by our basic nature.
So get out and interact with others when you can. Go to movies, and restaurants, and hang out with your friends and family when you can.
It doesn't have to be all of the time 24/7/365, but a good healthy portion of being social won't hurt anyone.
5. Knowing your purpose in life.
I know this is a hard one and for most of us this is something of a journey we are on most of our lives.
But does it have to be that way?
I think a lot of times we think to ourselves that we as humans have one sole purpose in life.
Is it possible there could have more than one?
Do you think it's possible that you could have multiple purposes throughout your lifetime?
For instance...
- Could your purpose right now be that you are supposed to be the best parent you can be right now?
- Could your purpose right now be that you are supposed to be the best man or woman you can be right now?
- Could your purpose right now be that you are supposed to be the manager you can be right now?
- Could your purpose right now be that you are supposed to be the teacher you can be right now?
Maybe, just maybe your purpose in life changes as you live your life.
What do you feel your purpose is right now in life?
Has that changed from what you think your purpose in life was 6 months ago? 12 months ago? 2 years ago?
(Let me know below in the comments what you think your purpose is right now in your life.)
I don't claim to have all the answers my friends.
I don't claim to even know the right questions.
But I do know that together we can figure these things out and we can help each other this winding road of life.
I hope this has helped you a little bit and I hope next time you look at a vulture maybe these small things will come back to you in some small way.
Very good article. We can learn a lot from observing how animals live.
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