Cowboys…

One of my favorite icons.  The National Day of the Cowboy was Saturday, July 26^th. Did you miss it?  Sadly, me too. That article emphasized adjectives such as “respect, loyalty, and a willingness to work hard”.  I might add quiet, confident, polite, and gritty.

Grit is meaningful.  I believe the world is divided between those with great fortune and everyone else.  Like you, I’ve had many experiences just the opposite of… say… Winston Churchill as recorded by the editors of Time Magazine: 

The forces of dictatorship were pessimistic, hateful, sullen; Churchill loved freedom partly because he knew how to enjoy it. As a British lord once noted, 'Mr. Churchill is always prepared to put up with the best of everything.’ 

Aristocratic roots yet never a cowboy, Winston Churchill was certainly gritty proving we don’t all have to be cowboys to be gritty.  Grittiness is an important attribute when pursuing meaningful goals as found in Drive ©: 

… in another study, the West Point grit researchers found that grittiness - rather than IQ or standardized test scores - is the most accurate predictor of college grades. 

Daniel H. Pink 

In my career (and throughout my life) grittiness helped me through “those occasions”, large and small.  You too?  Oh, I was well trained; gained experience (often through trial and error); and achieved significant goals.  But once my wife and younger son brought horses into our life, I found another trait I could apply to my job beyond grittiness: 

Dedicated to those business professionals who know the difference between the smell of horse manure in the barn vs. the “sound” of horse manure in the office. 

Over the centuries, cowboys and horses have been inseparable.  (Horse manure, too.)  Although I’m no cowboy, I’ve grown to appreciate the cowboy persona, the grittiness of the men and women who came before us, and President George W. Bush’s statement: 

We celebrate the Cowboy as a symbol of the grand history of the American West. The Cowboy’s love of the land and love of the country are examples for all Americans. 

So here’s to our cowboys; their grittiness; the examples they set; and the country they helped forge into what we all enjoy today.  May you leverage your grittiness in pursuit of success.  And along the way may you continue to recognize the smell - and the sound - of horse manure. 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.