Go Get It.

Getting ahead comes down to four simple steps to get success.

Get over yourself. Get a plan. Get going. Get back up.

Don’t get me wrong, you’re probably pretty good. But if you want to “get ahead” that means you aren’t ahead of where you want to be. To get there you need to get over your own ego. Now don’t twist this into something negative when it doesn’t have to be. There is a significant difference between hating on yourself and staying humble.  Perhaps saying “get over yourself” seems harsh, so let’s look at it another way: Lisa Frick has 4 FCI Agility World Championships, that’s four individual combined gold medals. I think we can all agree that she’s knows what she’s doing and is pretty near perfect at agility. Are you better than Lisa Frick? Probably not…if you really are, kudos- I’ll hire you for a seminar on the spot.

I'm sure you all answered "No." in your head. Here's the thing, this isn’t about comparing yourself to Lisa Frick, that would be quite negative-as your mental "No" proves-comparing is a useless activity as it is. You should not have to compare to Lisa, or to anyone, to be proud of your own accomplishments. No part of success requires you to be better or to get better than Lisa. Comparison in your mind is letting your ego talk for you, good or bad, this little voice does you no favors. This is about the word “near”. One of the most accomplished handlers in the history of agility is near perfect, but even she has taken a silver medal once or twice.  If you’d like proof- just look at one of the best displays of agility sportsmanship I’ve seen: Click Here

Getting over yourself means making room for learning and fun, this is a game- not a battle to the death. There is no room to compare yourself to others if you wish to get ahead- let go of this inner battle to sooth your ego now.Similarly, if you think you are the best already, you’re not going to be the best anytime soon. Whether you think you're too good or too bad, you're shooting yourself in the foot. Last time I checked we need both our feet to do agility!

Winners focus on winning, losers focus on winners.

The next steps come as a pair- get a plan and get going. Neither is useful alone- you can have the most ingenious plan out there; if you aren’t moving you aren’t reaching the goal. On the flip side, going without a direction is downright foolish and a waste of energy. Failing to plan is planning to fail- success is the accumulation of goals. It isn’t so much “Step 1, Step 2, Step 3”, but humor me perhaps and see success as a continuing education. The things you learn are constantly reapplied to complete each goal in your journey. Steps put you at a new level each time leaving the last step behind, but success isn’t a staircase to the top. You aren't following a path, you are creating your dreams. It is the act bettering of yourself, you are building your future.

Good thing this journey isn’t straight up a flight of stairs because getting knocked down would be quite the nasty fall. And for some it is, although it doesn’t have to be. It is easy to say you shouldn’t be discouraged by mistakes or even failure. And I won’t say failure doesn’t exist, it does, but only if you let it. You’ll notice “Get back up” isn’t “Don’t fall”. You’re going to fall, sometimes it sucks. I’d be lying if I told you that I’m never disappointed by a run or by my handling. You don’t have to fall on your ass laughing like a maniac every time. Sometimes it sucks, hell, take it to heart. Figure out what you did wrong. Get back up. Get back out there. This is the point in your journey that will make or break you. Either you have the will to keep going, or you don’t. It is a simple choice- you have all the tools, all you need to do is go get it. 

Day by day I'm getting better and better.