Why would anyone choose to be a gazelle?
There is an old motivational quote that says, “Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”- Christopher McDougall
Yes, every morning get up and get after it, it’s “eat or be eaten” but as Jon Gordon writes, “you are the story you tell yourself” and if you see yourself as a gazelle, running from predators, that’s a problem. Who you are is a mindset. You can be the hunter or become the hunted. You can live in fear or can chase down opportunities. You can be the animal everyone stops and takes pictures of at the zoo or you can be passed by without getting a second look. The choice is yours.
Even though we all have the choice of who we want to be, one can’t just say “I’m a lion”, it’s not that easy. Lions need no introduction. When they enter the room people take notice, they prove to be “King” everyday with their actions. Many wish they were a lion but revert to being average…a gazelle. Mental Performance coach Justin Su’a supports this statement by saying,“Everyone wants to be a beast until they have to do what beasts do.”
Lions need no introduction. When they enter the room people take notice. To be a Lion, to be on top of the food chain it’s going to take incredible amount of effort, sacrifice, discipline and a positive mindset. The good news is that these are all things within our control. It doesn’t matter if you were a gazelle in the past, choose to be a lion today, One roar at a time!
Coach Nelson serves as a high school football coach who is pursuing his doctorate in Sport and Performance Psychology. He has worked for division 1 athletic departments, professional sport franchises, a Fortune 100 company and has won numerous awards for his Leadership abilities.
His mission is to positively influence the world through Love, Effort, Attitude and Discipline (#LEAD). To learn more about the LEAD Philosophy follow him on Twitter Levi Nelson or reach out via email at rln10@zips.uakron.edu He’d love to learn about or help you in your journey!
