Thursday, June 25, 2015

Recipe for Mediocrity

Hello Speakers, Business Owners, Future Entrepreneurs and Big Dreamers,  
 The United States has a $1.5 billion annual destruction problem. This destruction problem is caused by crazy wild pigs. These wild pigs, also known as "Wild Boar" are the culprits and they occupy 47 states in our country. They are one of the most invasive species known to mankind.
Some of these wild boar weigh between 450 to 600 pounds, and can run as fast as 35 miles an hour. They have sharp tusks that can grow up to 4 inches long and can snap a human leg like a small tree branch in seconds. They literally eat anything their path, eggs, berries, wood, small animals, waste, and possibly inexperienced hunters. They are truly wild and highly dangerous. The following story is a bit of fact and fiction.

Just ask one town in Millstone, Utah, a farming community that was  ravaged by these creatures. The town finally came together and pooled their money so they could seek out the most experienced hunters they could find to solve this wild boar overpopulation problem. They combined thousands of dollars to hire a team of the best hunters. The day came when these experienced hunters rolled into town their shiny trucks, plus a multitude of equipment and a team of hunters dressed in what looked like SWAT gear. They took the money town residents compiled and they headed into the woods to do their deed. Just about a week later they came out of the woods, but were not as enthusiastic as when they were entering the woods,  their vehicles were dented and damaged, hunters were hurt, equipment was damaged along with their egos and the results were dismal. Only a couple of wild boar were dead in the back of one of their trucks. They just kept rolling through town and never stopped and never came back. The town of Millstone was at their wits end and almost out of money. So they put an ad in the paper, labeled: "ANYONE" that can help our town eradicate "Wild Pigs!!!" PLEASE RESPOND!
About a week later, this old rickety flatbed truck comes rolling in to Millstone. Behind the wheel of the truck sat this old timer long with white hair and a dirty white beard with a stub of a cigar sticking out of the corner of his mouth. He pulled up to Town Hall and said to the authorities:
“I’m here to get the pigs.”
They came outside to see his equipment and they were flabbergasted to see he had a 40-year-old rusted flatbed truck stacked with a lot of lumber, boxes and boxes of nails, and bags of feed that probably weighed close to 3000 pounds. The authorities said to the old man "you must be kidding, you're going to kill yourself, go home now". The old man just stared at them and got in his truck and headed into the woods to get the pigs.
About a week later, this rickety old truck began to make its way out of the woods on this dirt mountain road heading into the town of Millstone. Front tires of the truck were lifting up because it had so many dead Wild Boar on the back of it.
The old geezer got out of the truck with that unlit cigar sticking on a corner of his mouth and the town residents asked him how he was able to accomplish this?
The Old Man stood there in front of everybody and said it was quite simple. The other hunters you hired thought they could meet these Wild Boar head-on with big guns and fancy equipment, maybe, in some cases it will work. These animals are born killers and every waking moment of their life is about the hunt it's about bringing food back to their sounder to feed their young. Wild Boar are just about the most ambitious motivated creature on planet Earth.
I just taught them how to become mediocre.
The first day I showed up I found a small open field and pulled my truck up in the middle of the field. I opened up about 300 pounds of feed and dumped it in the middle of the field. And I went and sat in my truck for the rest of the day. Throughout the night I could see a few of these wild boar going to the pile of feed the following night it quadrupled. On day three, I took my lumber and made two sides of the fence connecting them in an L shape fashion and I dumped about another 500 pounds of feed in the corner and headed back to my truck for the night. I estimate at least two dozen wild boar were on the scene. On day four, I built side three of the fence connecting it to side one and side two. Now I had this U-shaped corral and then filled the corral with about 1000 pounds of feed. That night, I assumed at least four dozen wild boar were on the scene. On day five, I built the final side of the fence and left it lying on the ground and I dumped the rest of the feed that night into the corral. Just as expected the boar trotted into corral to feast on the feed and when that happened I propped up side four the fence and backed my truck up against it and trapped them. As I looked into the corral some of them were so full they were sleeping. I stood on the truck and it was just like shooting fish in a barrel except this time shooting wild pigs in the corral.
The old man said mediocrity isn't something you're born with he stated “it's an environment.” It's who you hang around with and what your tuned into every day. The environment becomes a part of you and you a part of it. Once it influences you over time it grows into habit. If that habit stays with you then you have ordained your destiny.
These wild boar were not use to getting something handed to them, they are born hunters. But each night, they could run into the middle of the field and they became comfortable getting something for nothing. I created a lazy environment for them. “I’ve learned one thing in my 70 years and that's if you give something to somebody continually as a hand out you will drain their drive, their perseverance and their will. Then you have them relegated to be dependent on that environment. This environment was mediocrity. 
That is how I caught the wild boar.        

Next Blog July 25, 2015.


 “The Insurance Coach”

      John P. Slosek, Jr 
   "The Insurance Coach ™"
Insurance Coach Radio Show 

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5 comments:

  1. What a great story and lesson! Fantastic. Loved this article. Thank you John!

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  2. What a great kick in the @$$ John, for both me and my team. A perfect metaphor with a lesson to be learned indeed. As always, I enjoy your motivating ways.

    Kevin

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for reading our blog Kevin, and for making a comment!

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  3. Excellent insight on motivation and drive. Always a good idea to fuel the fire of desire and enthusiasm. I can only hope we as a people, in this great country, learn to foster a hunting mentality in everyone.

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